


Wicked Love

by fangirl_250_501



Series: Wicked Love Series [1]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Badass Original Character, Badass female character, Book/Movie 1: The Maze Runner, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, F/M, Grievers, Maze Runner OC, Maze Runner Original Character, Newt (Maze Runner) Has a Crush, Newt (Maze Runner) in Love, Original Character(s), POV Original Character, POV Original Female Character, Sassy Minho (Maze Runner), Suicide Attempt, The Glade, The Maze Runner Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:06:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 27,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25720297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_250_501/pseuds/fangirl_250_501
Summary: Haylee is the only girl in the Glade. No one knows why. What people do know is that Haylee is one of the Glade's best Runners, and that she is in love with one of the Gladers: Newt. But when everything starts to change, will she be able to survive?
Relationships: Alby & Minho & Newt (Maze Runner), Alby & Newt (Maze Runner), Minho & Newt & Thomas (Maze Runner), Minho & Thomas (Maze Runner), Newt & Thomas (Maze Runner), Newt (Maze Runner)/Original Character(s), Newt (Maze Runner)/Original Female Character(s), Newt/OC, Newt/Original Character, Newt/Original Female Character
Series: Wicked Love Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865662
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	1. Confessions

Haylee's POV

I finally catch my breath as I exit the Maze along with a few of the other Runners. It had been another long, hot day running in the Maze.

A minute or so after we got out, the Maze Doors slammed shut behind us. I remember my first night in the Glade, when I first heard the Doors close, officially sealing my fate.

I am the only girl in the Glade. The boys were pretty shocked when I first showed up, but everyone had gotten used to having a girl here after a few months. I have been in the Glade for nine months now, and these boys are my family.

"Cutting it close again, Haylee." Newt commented from a few feet away. I grinned and walked over to him. Of al the boys in the Glade, I had definitely grown closest to Newt. From Day 1, he helped me adjust to my life here, and he always seemed to be there for me. He was my first friend.

And I had fallen in love with him. But he had no idea, and there was no way he returned the feelings.

"Hey, I make it back every night." I argued.

"Don't tempt fate." He warned in a serious tone.

"Hey, what could be worse than ending up here?" I said. "So whatever shuck fate has in store for me: Bring it on."

"That is bloody dangerous thinking." Newt sighed.

"Yeah, whatever." I replied. "Got any food? I'm starving." We walked over to Frypan's kitchen, where he was cleaning up for the day.

"Hey, Frypan." I said. "Got any leftovers?" Frypan nodded and dug a couple sandwiches out of a cabinet and handed them to me. Then he gave me a look that said "Next time, come back on time and eat with the shucking rest of us."

"Thanks." I laughed, and Newt and I walked out of the kitchen. We sat on the grass, under the starry night sky.

I noticed Newt eyeing my sandwiches, and I rolled my eyes. Newt didn't like to ask people for things, so he usually just dropped hints until we figured it out.

"Did you even eat anything today?" I asked, exasperated.

"Yes!" He exclaimed defensively. "Sort of." Sighing, I handed him a sandwich, and he ate it gleefully.

"Did ya find anything today?" He asked, although he already knew the answer to that. Usually I hated it when people asked me that, but this was Newt.

"Well, if nothing counts as anything, then yes." I replied.

"And yet you still couldn't wait until the last bloody second to leave the Maze." Newt said. I gave him a mock-offended expression, and he just laughed at my terrible acting skills.

Newt's laugh was shucking adorable, and for some reason, I was blushing.

Get a grip, Haylee! I mentally yelled at myself. Newt was my friend. I didn't want to reveal how I felt if it would ruin this friendship.

Yeah, I loved Newt. But I wasn't going to mess this up.

...

_"Newt, no!" I shouted. "Please, don't do it!"_

_"I have to!" He yelled back. He had climbed halfway up one of the Maze walls, and he was prepared to jump. The fall would seriously injure or maybe even kill him._

_And that's what he wanted it to do._

_"Look, I know things seem bad now, but killing yourself is not the answer!" I reasoned. "We can get through this, okay. We can get through this together, you just need to climb down!"_

_His eyes met mine, and for a horrible moment, I thought he was going to jump._

_"Okay." Newt said. "Okay." I sighed with relief._

_Suddenly, he jumped off the wall and landed on the ground with a sickening thud._

_"NEWT!" I screamed, running over to him. I knelt at his side. He was bleeding from several gashes, and his leg was twisted at an awkward angle._

_But he was alive._

_"Let me die." He groaned. "Leave me here!"_

_"No." I insisted. "No, no, no."_

_I glanced around. There wasn't much time before the Doors closed. I had to get Newt out of here._

_Struggling, I picked him up and ran as fast as I could towards the exit. But Newt was heavier than I was, and I had been running all day._

_Eventually, I crashed to the ground, and Newt gave a cry of pain as he dropped to the floor. We weren't going to make it._

_"Come on, Newt." I said. "Come on, come on!" But Newt was in no condition right now, and it wasn't as if I could leave him._

_"Minho! Alby!" I yelled. "Somebody please help!" I gasped in relief at the sound of footsteps coming my way._

_"What're you-" Alby stopped short at the sight of Newt. "What the shucking hell happened?!"_

_"I'll explain later." I said. "We just have to get him out of here." Alby helped me to my feet, and together, we picked him up and ran as fast as we could._

_We exited the Maze just in time, and the Doors clanged shut behind us._

_"What happened?!" Minho shouted, storming over to us. His eyes widened when he caught sight of Newt._

_"Get him to the Med-Jacks!" Alby shouted. Chaos ensued as people rushed over to see what was going on. I desperately clung to Newt's hand, willing him to survive._

_Someone pulled him away, and I collapsed to the ground, the image of Newt's broken body branded in my mind._

I jolted awake, nearly falling out of my hammock. Once I realized that it was all just a dream, I sighed and laid back down.

I had almost gone a full week without having a nightmare about Newt's attempted suicide. I remembered every single detail of that day vividly, and the horrible days that followed.

I noticed that there was a small fire lit just outside the woods. Newt was sitting next to it, keeping it going.

As quietly as I could, I got out of my hammock and jogged over to Newt.

"Hi." I said as I approached.

"Hey." He replied. I sat down next to him, and we both faced the fire. "Can't sleep?"

I shook my head. "How about you?"

"Nope." Newt said, smiling sadly. "Most nights I barely sleep. Some nights, I don't sleep at all." We sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the fire. When he wasn't looking, I glanced at Newt. The fire illuminated his features, making him seem brighter.

"Hayl?" Newt asked, using his nickname for me.

"Yeah, Newt?"

"Why did you save me that day?"

The question took be aback. Newt never, never talked about his attempted suicide.

"Because you're my friend." I said. "I couldn't just leave you to die.

"If you couldn't have gotten me out." Newt began. "Would you have stayed?"

"Of course." I answered.

"Why?"

"Because..." I trailed off. "Because I love you, you idiot!" I clapped a hand over my mouth, realizing what I had just blurted out.

Newt's expression was one of shock. But then, it transformed into a smile, the brightest smile I had ever seen.

"I love you too, Haylee." He whispered. "I never thought you would love me back."

"How could I not?" I said. He brushed back a strand of my hair, the firelight dancing in his eyes. We were close, close enough to...

I closed the gap and kissed him. His lips were soft and light, his kiss passionate.

When I finally pulled away, I saw pure joy on Newt's face. The first time I had seen him with an expression like that since... well, since ever.

He kissed me again, and I wrapped my arms around him, never wanting to let go.


	2. Griever Attack

The next morning, I felt better than I had in a very long time. Newt and I stayed out late, even after the fire died. We talked, we kissed. It was perfect.

Still, there was work to be done, and I had to run.

"Be careful, okay." Newt said just as I was about to go into the Maze.

"When am I ever not careful?" I joked. He cracked a grin, although I could tell he was worried. "Newt, I do this every day. I'll be fine." He sighed, but he didn't say anything else.

Minho jogged up to us and glanced between Newt and me, a grin forming on his face.

"So, what happened last night?" Minho said.

"Slim it, Minho." I muttered, but I didn't really mean it.

"So, what should the ship name be." Minho asked as we jogged into the Maze.

"The what?"

"You know, the ship name?" He insisted. "Hmm, Newtlee? Or Haylewt? Hm, I like Haylewt"

"Man, you are so full of klunk." I joked. He rolled his eyes, and then we split up in our separate directions, ready for another day of running the Maze.

...

I drained the last few drops of my water bottle. Nothing had changed today, and I was ready to head back to the Glade.

The sound of a Griever stopped me dead in my tracks.

I slowly turned around to see that there was, indeed, a Griever, and it was headed right towards me.

I ran, faster than I had ever run before. I could hear the Griever tearing after me, but I couldn't stop, I couldn't look back-

The Griever lashed out, sending me crashing into a wall. It advanced on me and backed me into a corner. There was no running from this.

I shut my eyes, waiting for my inevitable death.

My last thought before I completely lost consciousness was that I would never see Newt again.

...

Newt's POV

I paced in front of the Maze entrance. Haylee wasn't back yet, but neither were any of the Runners. Probably just coming back at the last bloody second again.

I know Haylee's constant nightmares about when I tried to kill myself. I know she sees that every night.

My nightmares are about losing her. About the Runners coming back, and her not being there. If she died... I don't think I could live.

The sound of footsteps coming from the Maze relaxed me, if only a little bit.

The Runners ran into the Glade, one by one. I continued worrying as I didn't see Haylee among them. Where was she?

Then Minho ran out.

He was carrying a very injured Haylee in his arms. She was covered in blood, deathly pale, her arm was twisted, and she was breathing raggedly.

No, no, no. Please, not Haylee.

I sprinted over to them. Haylee looked even worse up close. There were a bunch of nasty gashes in her chest, and she had a long scratch mark across her face.

"What happened?!" I yelled at Minho as the Maze Doors shut behind him.

"Griever." He gasped. The Med-Jacks ran over, taking Haylee away.

"Was she stung?" I asked, fearing the worst.

"No." Minho said. "But she's hurt pretty badly. Newt... I don't know if she's going to survive."


	3. Healing

What if she dies?

I sobbed softly into my hands. I couldn't lose Haylee. Sweet, funny, caring Haylee.

Jeff, one of the Med-Jacks, was running towards the Homestead with some supplies, presumably for Haylee. I sprinted over and reached him just as he was about to go in.

"Is she going to make it?" I asked. Jeff glanced down. "Is she?!"

"We don't know." Jeff said. "It's bad. It's really bad."

"Please, let me be with her!" I exclaimed. "I need her, I can't be without her!"

"Newt man, I'm really sorry, but you can't see her until she's better." Jeff said. With that, he disappeared into the Homestead.

I felt hopeless. She was in pain, possibly dying, and I couldn't even help her get through it.

Was this how Haylee felt when I attempted suicide?

I stumbled around, not sure where to go. Most of the Gladers backed away from me, knowing what was going on.

A scream erupted from the Homestead. Haylee. She must have been in so much pain, unbearable pain.

I desperately wanted to run to her, to save her, but I knew that me being there would only make things worse.

I wanted to kill those bloody Grievers. Every single one of them.

...

_I stepped into the Box, ready to greet the new Greenie who was about to be stuck here._

_I was shocked when I saw a girl's face staring up at me. She had long, chestnut brown hair that was tied back in a tight braid. Her skin was a lovely tan shade, and she had pretty hazel eyes._

_"What is it, Newt?" Alby called down._

_"It's a girl." I said in disbelief. The other Gladers gasped. There had been no girls in the Glade, not until now._

_"Where am I?" The girl asked._

_"You're in the Glade." I said. "Don't be scared."_

_"I'm not." She said defiantly. I grinned. I was liking her more and more by the minute._

_"I'm Newt." I said. "What's your name?"_

_"Haylee."_

Haylee's screams echoed throughout the night. None of the Gladers could fall asleep, but they didn't mind. Haylee was well-liked by everyone, even the meanest Gladers.

For me, it was like a special torture. Her screams meant that she was alive, but she was in pain too.

After a while, the screams stopped, and for a terrible moment, I thought she had died. I was about to sprint into the room where she was, when I heard her voice calling out a single word: Newt.

That was it. I got up and ran to Haylee's room. My name was echoing throughout the Homestead. She needed me, and I was going to be there for her.

I slammed open the door, and the two Med-Jacks looked up at me sharply. Haylee was on the table, crying and shaking and still whispering my name.

"Newt, get out of here!" Clint yelled.

"She needs me!" I argued. "Please!" They continued protesting my presence until Haylee's shaking stopped. We all turned to look at her.

"Newt." She whispered. "Newt!"

"She wants me to be here." I reasoned. The Med-Jacks sighed.

"She seems stable anyways." Jeff said. "If anything starts to go wrong, get us immediately." They left, leaving me alone with Haylee.

I sat on a little stool next to the table she was lying on. She looked way better than she had when she first came out of the Maze. Her wounds had been bandaged up, and some color had returned to her face.

She was going to survive.

"Just hang in there, Hayl." I whispered. "You can do this."


	4. Nightmares

Haylee's POV

The first thing I noticed was that I am not dead.

I tried to open my eyes, but they refused to yield.

Panic flared inside of me as I thought of Newt. What if he thought I was dead and he jumped again? What if no one was there to save him?

These thoughts propelled me forward, and my eyes opened wide with a gasp.

Newt was sitting right next to me, his eyes rimmed red.

"Haylee?" He breathed, almost as if he didn't believe it.

"Newt!" I gasped, sitting up and throwing my arms around him. He returned the embrace immediately, pulling me close.

"You're alive." He whispered. And then, louder, to no one in particular: "She's alive!" We broke the hug, and he brushed back a strand of my hair, his beautiful brown eyes boring into mine.

We kissed just as the door swung open. I didn't care if anyone saw. I just wanted to be with Newt.

"Aw, this is adorable." Minho said from the doorway, with only the slightest hint of sarcasm. He was standing in front of a crowd of Gladers who were in the hallway, cramming into the cramped space.

"Hey guys." I said weakly.

"Alright, give her some bloody space!" Newt yelled to the Gladers. "She just woke up." The Gladers in the hallway grumbled, but they all filtered out except for Minho, who came in and sat next to Newt.

"What happened?" I asked. "I remember being in the Maze, and there was a Griever..."

"Yeah, it beat you up real bad." Minho explained. "We didn't know if you were going to survive." The pained look on Newt's face told me that it had been a rough night.

"I- I saw things." I said. "There were labs... and tests... and so much pain..." The two boys leaned in, listening intently. "Something terrible happened to us. To the world." I hadn't been stung, and yet somehow, flashes of my memories came back to me.

"The important thing is that we're safe." Newt said. "For now, at least." Yeah. Here, in the Glade, with all of my friends. Safe. Home.

"So when do I start running again?"

Newt and Minho looked at me like I was crazy.

"You want to go back into the Maze?" Minho exclaimed.

"No way." Newt added.

"Not immediately!" I protested. "Just once I'm healed-"

"It'll be at least a few months before you are healed completely." Minho said. "And then you'll have to train again, because you'll have lost so much time. Besides, do you really think we're going to just let you go back there?"

"It's not really your shucking decision." I mumbled.

"Well, I am Keeper of the Runners." Minho said.

"And I'm your boyfriend." Newt added. "I'm not going to let you put yourself in danger when we just got you back." He lowered his voice. "I thought I lost you, Hayl."

"I'm right here." I said jokingly, but I could tell that he had really been scared. And Newt didn't get scared easily.

"What the shuck am I supposed to do while I'm not Running?" I asked. "I can't just sit here! Everyone has to do their part."

"You can help me out around the Glade." Newt said with a shrug. "People will listen to you."

"Fine."

...

_"Run!" I scream. The Griever is fast, but so am I, and so is Newt. His limp has suddenly vanished as we sprint to the exit._

_I can feel the Griever getting closer with every step, but I can't stop running. Never stop running._

_I hear a cry of pain as Newt falls to the ground. I sprint back towards him, desperate to save him. But it's too late. The Griever stings him, and he screams, the sound bringing me to my knees._

_"Newt!" I shout. "RUN!"_

_But Newt is not running, and the Griever is not moving. Newt stands up right in front of the Griever and turns around to face me._

_I gasp. Newt's veins have turned black, and so have his eyes. This isn't Newt, this is something else._

_With a roar, he charges as me. His face holds no love, only rage and hate._

_"Newt." I gasp as he reaches me. He hesitates for a moment, and then rams his makeshift spear right into my stomach._

_"Newt... it's me." I try to say. There is blood flowing out of my wound, but the blood is unnaturally dark and flowing twice as fast as it should._

_I stare into Newt's eyes, but they are not the eyes of the boy I love. Before anything else can happen, he falls to the ground._

_The Griever charges forward once more, right to Newt, about to-_

"No!" I shouted as I wake up. I breathed heavily, realizing that was only a nightmare. I was still in the "medical room" of the Homestead.

I thought maybe, just maybe, this whole thing could make the plaguing nightmares go away, but it just made them worse, so much worse.

I let out a loud sob. Something bad is going to happen, I had a feeling that it is going to happen soon.

I jumped as the door opened, but I relaxed when I saw that it was Newt.

"I heard some shouting." He said. "You okay?" I tried to say yes, but it just came out as a sob. A look of concern crossed Newt's face.

"I'm fine." I managed to say. "Just a nightmare." He looked at me very skeptically.

"Ok, I'm not fine." I sighed. "Can I- can I stay with you?"

"Of course." Newt whispered softly. He held out his hand, and I got up to take it. His room was on the second level of the Homestead. Being second-in-command, Newt had his own room.

We both climbed into his hammock, and he wrapped his arms around me. I leaned into him, taking in all of his warmth.

"I'll never let anything happen to you ever again." He whispered in my ear. I fell asleep in his arms.

There were no nightmares this time.


	5. Another Newbie

_Seven Months Later_

I am still not allowed to go back into the Maze.

I am healed, at least physically. Mentally... well, the nightmares and visions have only gotten worse. Newt, Alby, and Minho have made sure that I stay out of danger, even though I can handle myself quite well.

Instead, I help Newt and Alby with the leadership stuff. They think I'm pretty good at it, but I'm pretty sure my leadership skills are complete klunk.

Still, nothing bad had happened until a day ago, when Ben was stung by a Griever.

I was jolted out of my thoughts as the Greenie alarm rang. Time to greet the poor shank who was stuck here now.

I peered down into the box. The boy inside seemed tall, with dark hair and white skin. He looked up at us, terrified and confused.

"Throw down the rope!" Alby shouted. A couple of the Gladers hauled the Greenie rope down, and the boy grabbed onto it.

Once he had a firm grip, the boys holding the rope pulled him up, and he climbed out of the Box and onto the grass of the Glade.

"Nice to meet you, shank." Alby said. "Welcome to the Glade."

"Look at the Greenbean." Gally commented. "Gonna break his shuck neck checking out the new digs."

"Slim it, Gally." Someone else shouted.

"Where am I?" The Greenie asked. He seemed surprised at the sound of his own voice.

"Nowhere good." Alby said. "Just slim yourself nice and calm."

"Which Keeper is he gonna get?" Another Glader shouted. I shot a glare into the crowd. Did they remember their first day and how awful it was?

"I told you, shuck face." A boy said. "He'll be a Slopper, no doubt about it. Just look at him."

"Shut your holes!" Alby shouted, and the crowd of Gladers quieted down. "Keep yapping and the next break'll be cut in half."

The Greenie looked around, in a daze. He sat down with a confused and scared expression on his face.

"It's a long story, shank." Alby said, sitting down across from the Greenie. "You'll learn it all eventually. Until ten, just don't break anything. My name's Alby." He held out his hand, and the Greenie shook it.

"Tell me." The Greenie croaked out. "Tell me the long story."

"He's surprisingly calm." Newt muttered to me. I nodded. Something seemed off about this boy, but I just couldn't place it.

"Seriously." The Greenie insisted. "Where am I?"

"If you ain't scared, you ain't human." Alby said. Those words were definitely true. "Act any different and I'd throw you off the Cliff because it'd mean you're a psycho."

"The Cliff?" The Greenie asked. Man, Alby threatened to kill him? This was why someone else needed to tell the Greenies what was going on.

"Shuck it." Alby said. "There's no good way to start these conversations. We don't kill anyone here, I promise."

I was about to intervene, but Newt just shook his head. Let Alby try.

"Man." Alby sighed. "I'm no good at this. You're the first Greenbean since Nick was killed." Okay, now he was saying too much.

"Wait for the bloody tour, Alby." Newt said as we sat down on either side of him. "Kid's gonna have a heart attack. Name's Newt, Greenie, and forgive our klunk-for-brains leader over here."

"And I'm Haylee." I said, and he shook my hand. "I'm the one who makes sure these two aren't being complete idiots."

"Pipe it, shuckfaces." Alby muttered, although it was more directed at Newt than me. "At least he can understand half my words." The other Gladers were packed behind us, listening to every word.

"This place is called the Glade, alright?" Alby explained. "It's where we live, where we eat, where we sleep. We call ourselves the Gladers. That's all you-"

"Who sent me here?" The Greenie demanded. "How'd-" Alby interrupted him by grabbing the Greenie by the shirt and leaning forward. Newt and I exchanged a nervous glance.

"No interruptions!" He shouted. "If we told you everything, you'd die on the spot, right after you klunked your pants."

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" The Greenie exclaimed.

"Alby, lay off a bit." I said, grabbing Alby's arm and taking it off the Greenie's shirt.

"You're hurting more than helping, you know?" Newt added.

"We don't have time to be nice Greenbean." Alby sighed. "Your old life is over, and your new one's begun. Learn the rules and don't talk. You get me?" The Greenie glanced at Newt, and then at me, hoping for some help in dealing with Alby.

"You get him, right Greenie?" I prompted.

"Yeah." The Greenie said.

"Good that." Alby said. "Today's your First Day, shank. The Box came late today, so we don't have time for the Tour. Tomorrow morning, right after wake up." He stood up and looked at Newt and me. "You two, get him a bed get him to sleep." We nodded. Usually the two of us were the "welcomers" when the Greenies came.

"In a few weeks, you'll be happy, shank." Alby said to the Greenie. "Happy and helping. None of us knew anything on our First Day, just like you. Your new life begins tomorrow." Alby shoved his way through the crowd and then walked to the Homestead, probably to check on Ben.

"Show's over!" I shouted to the Gladers. They stared at me for a moment, and then I made a "go away" gesture, and they all dispersed.

"What did I do?" The Greenie whispered. "Why did they send me here." Newt put his hand on the Greenie's shoulder. We had all been though this.

"What you're feeling, we've all felt it." Newt explained. "We've all had a First Day, coming out of that bloody Box. This are bad, and they'll get much worse. That's just the truth. But down the road, you'll be fighting true and good." We started walking, not really in any particular direction.

"Is this a prison?" The Greenie asked.

"Done asking the four questions, huh?" I said. "There aren't any good answers for you, not yet anyway. Just be quiet now, accept the change. You'll get used to it."

"Chuck'll be a good fit for you." Newt decided. "Stay here, I'll be back." But before either of us could move, a loud scream ripped through the air, coming from the Homestead. Ben.

"Shuck it." Newt muttered. "Can't those bloody Med-jacks handle that boy for ten minutes without needing my help?"

"Want me to tell Alby you'll be there in a minute?" I asked. After all, Newt still did have to help the Greenie.

"Yeah." Newt said. "Thanks, Hayl." I nodded and jogged off to the Homestead, and stopped in the room where Ben was going through the Changing.

"Where's Newt?" Alby asked when I entered the room.

"He's coming, give him a shucking minute." I said. "He had some explaining to do to the Greenie after all that klunk you said." Alby scowled, but he kept his eyes on Ben.

"I don't get it, Haylee." He said after a moment. "I mean, people have been crazy in their Changings, but nothing like this. What changed?" I crouched down next to Alby, right in front of Ben.

"I dunno." I said. "Maybe the Grievers are adapting. Getting stronger."

"That is not a comforting thought." Alby muttered.

"It's not supposed to be." I replied. Newt burst into the room, his blond hair messy and tangled.

"Sorry 'bout that." He muttered, leaning down next to us. Ben was writhing on the table, the Changing causing him to see things, horrible things. I never wanted to relive that, ever.

A noise at the door startled me, and the three of us turned around to see the new Greenie staring at Ben, horrified.

"What're you doing up here. Greenie!" Alby shouted. He got up and shoved Thomas into the hallway, slamming the door behind him. I could hear Alby give Thomas some instructions, and then he walked back in, shaking his head.

"Tomorrow morning, I want both of you showing the Greenie a Griever." Alby said. "That shank is too curious for his own good."

Yeah. Something was definitely weird about this Greenie.


	6. Grievers and Greenies

Newt shook me awake softly. I groaned, not wanting to wake up.

"Come on, love." He said. "You used to wake up earlier than this."

"Yeah, and then you stopped me from going into the Maze." I countered, still tired. "Just give me one more minute." Newt laughed softly and got out of our hammock. I immediately missed his warmth and, groaning, I got out of the hammock.

"See, I knew you could do it." Newt teased. I grumbled and threw the nearest object at him, which happened to be my shoe.

"Hey!" He said, throwing the shoe back at me. I rolled my eyes, and we quickly changed.

Newt and I jogged out of the Homestead quietly and went to where the Greenie (who's name was Thomas) was asleep.

"C'mon, Greenie." Newt said, shaking him. "Wake up." Thomas jolted awake, about to say something, but Newt stopped him.

"Shh, Greenie." Newt said. "Don't wanna be waking Chuck now, do we?" Thomas relaxed when he realized who it was.

"Well come on, Greenie." I said, helping Thomas up. "We're supposed to show you something before everyone wakes up."

"Okay." Thomas replied simply. "Where are we going."

"Just follow us." Newt said.

"And stay close." I added. We tiptoed through the mass of sleeping Gladers. Thomas was not as nimble as Newt or me, so he kept tripping. At one point, he even stepped on someone's hand.

Once we made it past the Gladers, we broke into a run, our intended target being the West Wall. Thomas followed us, although not as fast.

"What are those?" Thomas asked, referring to a few red lights.

"When you bloody need to know, you'll know." Newt said dissuasively.

"Well, it's kind of stupid to send me to a place where nothing makes sense and not answer my questions." Thomas said. "Shank." I laughed at that last word. Clearly, he wasn't used to it.

"I like you, Greenie." I said. "But slim it and let us show you something." Newt placed his hands on the walls ivy and pulled it away, revealing a dark window.

"What're we looking for?" Thomas asked.

"Hold on, Greenbean." Newt said. "One'll be coming along soon enough." A few minutes passed, and I began to doubt if a Griever was coming at all.

But then the window brightened, and I knew it was here.

"Out there is the Maze." Newt said quietly. "Everything we do, our whole life, revolves around the Maze. Every second of every day, we spend trying to solve something that doesn't seem to have a bloody solution. And we want to show you why it's not to be messed with. Show you why those bloody walls close shut every night. Show you why you should never, never find your butt out there."

Newt stepped back and gestured for Thomas to take his place at the window. I grimaced, remembering the first time I saw a Griever, and remembering when I was hurt.

Thomas's eyes widened when it came into view. Newt and I couldn't see through the window, but we had both seen Grievers, and we knew what Thomas was seeing now.

"What is that thing?" He whispered.

"We call 'em Grievers." I explained. "Just be glad they only come out at night. Be shucking thankful for these walls."

"Now you know what bloody lurks in the Maze, my friend." Newt said. "Now you know this isn't a joke. You've been sent here, Greenie, and we're expecting you to survive and help us do what we were sent here to do."

"And what's that." Thomas asked.

"Find our way out." Newt said, staring at the Maze wall. "Solve the Maze and find our way home." We stared into the window for a few minutes. It's always the worst, the first time.

"We should be heading back." I said. "Alby'll be giving you the tour."

...

"Do you think something's weird about him?" Newt asked as we dragged some harvested vegetables towards the kitchen.

"Yeah." I said. "I feel like things are gonna change, ya know?" Newt looked confused for a moment, but then his expression changed.

"I'm not sure-" He was cut off by the sound of the Greenie alarm blazing. We exchanged an alarmed looked. Greenie's were only supposed to come once a month, not every day.

"Okay, I guess you're right." He said as we set the vegetables down and sprinted to the Box.

The other Gladers were huddled around the Box, looking as confused as I felt. What in the shucking hell was going on?

"Newt!" I heard Thomas yell. "What's going on?"

"It means a bloody Greenie is coming up in the Box." Newt explained. "Right now."

"So?"

"So?" I echoed. "Greenie, we've never had two Newbies who up in the same month, let alone two days in a row!"

We pushed through the crowd, leaving Thomas behind. This was weird, and not a good weird.

A resounding boom told us that the Box was here. Newt, Alby, and I pulled the Doors open, and Newt leaned inside to get a better look.

"Holy..." Newt trailed off, shocked. What had he seen in there? Alby and I leaned in, trying to see what had confused Newt so badly, and I gasped.

Inside the Box was a girl.

"No way." Alby muttered. I didn't even know what to say. Until now, I had been the only girl in the Glade.

The rest of the Gladers were pushing forward, trying to get a closer look.

"Hold on!" Alby shouted, and they all stopped. "Just hold on!"

"What's wrong?" One boy yelled.

"Two Newbies in one day." Alby whispered, barely audible. "Now this. What's going on here, Greenie?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Thomas retorted.

"Why don't you just tell us what the shuck is down there, Alby?" Gally shouted, and more Gladers joined in.

"You shanks shut up!" Alby yelled. He turned to Newt and me. "Tell 'em, Newt."

"It's a girl." Newt said. And then everyone started talking at once.

"Another one?"

"This one's mine!"

"What's she look like?"

Newt shushed them again, knowing that the fact that she was a girl wasn't the only thing different about her.

"That's not even half of it!" I shouted over the boys. "I think she's dead."

"Alright, someone get the rope!" Alby shouted. A few Gladers seemed to get it and got the Greenie rope plus a few more vines.

"Well, she can't exactly climb out." Alby mused, not sure what to do.

"I'll get her." I sighed. Alby nodded, so when the boys came back with the ropes, I grabbed onto them, and they lowered me in.

The girl was crumpled in one corner of the Box, curled in a fetal position. When I picked her up, she was surprisingly light.

I gave the rope a good tug, and the boys hauled me up with the girl in my arms.

Once I was back on the Grass, I laid her down on the grass, and the boys all stared at her. I couldn't really blame them. As far as they could remember, I was the only girl they had ever met, and I was dating Newt.

"Greenie, get over here." Newt said, pointing at Thomas. He scrambled over as the three of us knelt down next to the girl

"You know this girl, shank?" Alby asked as Thomas approached.

"Know her?" Thomas asked. "Of course I don't know her! I don't know anyone except for you guys.

"That's not..." Alby trailed off with a sigh. "I mean does she look familiar at all? Any kind of feeling you've seen her before?"

"No, nothing." Thomas said, shifting uncomfortably."

"You're sure?"

"Yes." Thomas insisted. "Why?"

"Shuck it." Alby said. "Can't be a coincidence. Two days, two Greenies. One alive, one dead."

"You think I..." Thomas trailed off. Killed her? Well, it was possible, but I didn't think that was what happened.

"Slim it, Greenie." Newt snapped. "We're not saying you bloody killed the girl."

"I swear, she doesn't look familiar at all." Thomas said.

"Are you-" I began to ask, but I was interrupted by the girl sitting up straight. She gasped and opened her eyes, staring at the Gladers.

Alby fell back, and Newt jumped up and away from her. I might have rolled my eyes at them, but I was pretty spooked too.

"Everything is going to change." She gasped, and then collapsed to the ground. I noticed that she was clutching a scrap of paper.

I grabbed it and unfolded the little slip, staring at the words on the page. 

**She's the last one. Ever.**


	7. Discoveries and Banishments

The Med-Jacks had taken the girl into the Homestead, although I could tell they weren't sure how to help her. The other Gladers scattered, talking about her. Meanwhile, Alby, Newt, and I tried to get answers out of Thomas.

"You've never seen her before?" Alby asked.

"N-no." Thomas answered. "Not that I remember." Something about his tone made me think that he was lying. 

"Really?" I asked from behind Alby. "You're sure?"

"I... no." Thomas said. "Why're you grilling me like this?"

"Something's whacked." Alby said to Newt and me. "Call a Gathering." We nodded and ran off towards the Homestead.

"I'll take care of the Gathering." Newt said. "You check on that girl."

"Got it." I said, and I walked up to where the Med-Jacks were working. They looked up sharply when I walked in, but relaxed when they saw it was me.

"So how is she?" I asked.

"The weird thing is, she seems fine." Clint said. "She just won't wake up." I studied the girl closely. She looked deathly pale, but she seemed to be breathing normally.

"Who are you?" I whispered. Suddenly, a loud yell erupted from outside. Without a word, I sprinted out of the Homestead and towards the origin of the shout.

Thomas and Alby came running out of the deadheads. They looked like they had seen a ghost.

"What happened?" I shouted to them.

"Ben." Alby explained, out of breath. He must have gotten out of the Homestead when the girl showed up. The look on Alby's face told me that he was dead.

...

"Ready for your first training?" I asked. Thomas just nodded. He was going through trials with the Keepers to see which job he would take on. 

"Alright, so for the next few days, you're going to be training with each Keeper and-" Newt stopped talking when he saw Thomas staring into the distance. "Tommy, are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, sorry." Thomas said. "Couldn't really sleep last night."

"Can't blame you there." Newt said. "Probably think we're slinthead shanks for getting you ready to work your butt off today after what happened."

"Word's probably the best thing I could do." Thomas said with a shrug. "Anything to get my mind off it."

"You're as smart as you look, Tommy." Newt said. "That's one of the reasons we run this place all nice and busy. You get lazy, you get sad and start giving up, plain and simple." I flinched at the words giving up because that was what Newt had done.

"So what's the latest on the girl from yesterday?" Thomas asked. Both he and Newt looked at me, and I realized Newt knew as much about this as Thomas did.

"Still in a coma, sleeping." I said. "Med-Jacks are spoon-feeding her whatever soups Frypan could cook up, checking her vitals and whatnot. She seems okay, actually, just dead to the world for now."

"That was just plain weird." Thomas commented.

"Yeah, weird is a good of a word as any." Newt replied.

"So what's first?" Thomas asked. "Milk cows or slaughter some poor pigs?"

"We always make the Newbies start with the bloody slicers." Newt said with a laugh. "Let's go meet Winston, he's the Keeper."

We walked into the Barn, but a noise from the Maze had us turn around. Minho sprinted out, full speed. He bent over and gasped for breath, sweating harder than I had ever seen before.

I sprinted over, faster than the others. Before either of us could say anything, Minho collapsed to the floor.

"Minho!" I exclaimed. "Hey, you okay."

"I'm... fine." He gasped, and then noticed Thomas standing over my shoulder. "Who the klunk is he?"

"I'm new here." Thomas explained. "I'm Thomas, been here a couple of days.

"Oh yeah, Thomas." Minho said, pushing himself into a sitting position. "Newbie. You and the girl." At this point, Alby had made it over.

"What're you doing back here, Minho?" Alby asked. "What happened?"

"Calm down, Alby." Minho said. "Make yourself useful and get me some water. I dropped my pack out there somewhere." But Alby just kicked Minho in the leg.

"What happened?" He asked again.

"I can barely talk shuck-face!" Minho shouted, his voice hoarse from exhaustion. "Just get me some water."

"Minho's the only shank who can talk to me like that without getting his butt kicked off the Cliff." Alby said to Thomas before jogging off to get the water.

"He lets you boss him around?" Thomas asked, earning a laugh from both me and Minho.

"You scared of that pip-squeak?" Minho asked. "Dude, you got a lot to learn. Freaking Newbies."

"Isn't he the leader?" Thomas asked.

"Leader?" Minho said. "Yeah, call him a leader all you want. Maybe we should call him El Presidente. Or Admiral Alby. There you go."

"So who is the leader if he isn't?" Thomas asked. This kid was asking more questions than most Newbies combined.

"Greenie, just stop talking before you confuse yourself more." I said.

"Yeah, why do you shanks always come in here asking stupid questions?" Minho asked. "It's really annoying."

"What do you expect us to do?" Thomas retorted angrily.

"Do what you're told, keep your mouth shut." Minho explained. "That's what I expect."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what both of you did as Newbies." Thomas replied. I almost laughed. Did he want Minho to punch him in the face?

"I was one of the first Gladers, slinthead." Minho said. "Shut your hole until you know what you're talking about." Thomas's gaze drifted to me, as if I would prove his point. "Oh, Haylee here was not a typical Newbie. As soon as she got here, she got with the program and made herself really shucking useful."

Thomas looked a little scared now. Minho did have that affect on the Greenies.

"He's just messing with you, Greenie." I said. "He does this to all the Greenies. You'll see when the next one comes. Well, I guess there won't be a next one."

"Guess not."

"You saw the chick, right?" Minho asked. I was getting a little annoyed with everyone calling her a 'chick.' "Everybody says you probably know her or something."

"I saw her." Thomas said defensively. "Doesn't really look familiar at all."

"She hot?" Minho asked. I rolled my eyes at him, but he just smirked.

"Yeah, I guess she's hot." Thomas said. He glanced nervously at me, almost as if he thought I would get mad.

"Yeah, you guess." Minho laughed. "If you got a think for chicks in comas."

"So... did you find anything today?" Thomas asked. I immediately facepalmed. That was the one question you never asked a Runner.

"You know what Greenie?" Minho said. "That's usually the dumbest shuck-faced thing you could ask a Runner. But not today?"

"Huh?" I said. Had he actually found something?

"What do you mean?" Thomas added.

"Just wait till the fancy admiral gets back." Minho said. "I don't like saying stuff twice. Plus, he might not want you to hear it anyways."

"Well at least tell me why you look so tired." Thomas sighed. "Don't you run out there every day?"

"Yeah, Greenie, I run out there every day." Minho confirmed. "Let's just say I got a little excited and ran extra fast to get my behind back here."

"Why?" Thomas asked. I would have punched him if he asked another question.

"Just be patient, Thomas." I said, exasperated.

"Wait for General Alby." Minho added.

"Okay, I'll shut up." Thomas said. Finally. "Just make sure Alby lets me hear the news too."

"Whatever, Greenie." Minho said. A moment later, Alby returned with a bug cup of water. Minho gulped the whole thing down without even pausing for a breath.

"Okay, out with it." Alby said. "What the shuck happened?"

"I found a dead one." Minho said.

"Huh?" Alby asked. "A dead what?"

"A dead Griever."

"What?!" I shouted. A dead Griever? That was impossible.

"Ain't a good time for jokes." Alby warned.

"Look, I wouldn't believe me if I were you either." Minho said. "But trust me, I did. Big fat nasty one."

"You found a dead Griever." I said, disbelieving. Could Grievers even die?

"Yes!" Minho insisted. "A couple of miles from here, out near the Cliff."

"Well why didn't you bring it back with you?" Alby asked. I guess Thomas wasn't the only one asking stupid questions.

"Those things must weigh half a ton, dude." Minho said. "Plus, I wouldn't touch one if you gave me a free trip out of this place."

"What did it look like?" Alby asked. "Were the metal spikes in or out of its body? Did it move at all? Was its skin still moist?"

"Jeez Alby, one question at a time." I muttered, and Minho nodded in agreement.

"You gotta see it for yourself." Minho said. "It's... weird."

"Weird?" Alby and I asked at the same time.

"Dude, I'm exhausted, starving, and sun-sick." Minh said. "But if you. Wanna haul it right now, we could probably make it there and back before the walls shut."

"Better wait till the wake-up tomorrow." Alby answered.

"Smartest thing you've said in a week." Minho said, pushing himself up and walking towards the Homestead with a small limp.

"Need some help there?" I asked, running to catch up to him.

"I can walk, Hayl." Minho said. "Man, that Greenie is annoying."

"Yeah, but he's helpful." I said with a shrug. "Maybe he'll be real good at something." Minho walked into the Homestead, and I ran back towards the main area of the Glade.

A dead Griever. Maybe we were closer to getting out of here than I thought.

"Haylee!" Someone shouted. I turned and saw Newt.

"What?" I asked. "I could do without some surprises for one minute."

"Well, that's not going to bloody happen." Newt said. "Ben's alive." I just sighed. Could this week get any weirder?

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, he's in the Slammer." Newt said. "The Keepers voted, and your vote wouldn't matter anyway. It was unanimous." I braced myself for the inevitable words. "Ben's being banished."

...

We stood by the Maze door, our poles in hand. I hated that we had to banish Ben. I get that he tried to kill Thomas, but he did it under the influence of the Changing.

Still, that didn't excuse trying to harm a fellow Glader.

"Bring him out!" Alby shouted, and Ben was brought to the door.

"You brought this on yourself, Ben." Alby sighed as we readied the poles.

"Please Alby." Ben pleaded. "I swear I was just sick in the head from the Changing. I never would have killed him, I just lost my mind for a second. Please, Alby, please."

I winced, not really wanting to do this. Newt's hand brushed against mine, and I could tell that he felt the same way.

"Ben of the Builders, you've been sentenced to banishment for the attempted murder of Thomas the Newbie. The Keepers have spoken, and their word isn't changing. You're not coming back. Ever."

"Please!" Ben exclaimed. "PLEASE! Somebody help me! You can't do this to me! Someone stop them! Help me! Please."

"If we let shanks like you get away with this stuff, we never would've survived this long." Alby said. "Keepers, get ready."

The door began to slowly close, and we pushed him towards it.

"No, no, please!" He shouted. "I swear, I'll never do it again!" But we kept pushing forward.

"Keepers, now!" Alby shouted, and we gave a final push until Ben was in the Maze, trying to escape.

"NOOOOOOOO." He screamed, trying to get out. But the Doors were already mostly closed.

Ben screamed one more time, louder than I had ever heard anyone scream before.

The Doors closed, cutting off Ben's screams and effectively cutting off his life.


	8. A Real Life Nightmare

Ben's pleas echoed in my head as I tried to fall asleep. I tried to forget them, but I couldn't block out the sound of my own head.

Newt was snoring softly, which helped a little. I tried to take slow, deep breaths. I needed to get at least a little bit of sleep, even though I knew the nightmares would come.

Eventually, I drifted off, succumbing to the darkness of sleep...

_The entire population of the Glade sprinted through the Maze. I was on the other side, silently praying that they would all make it through. A dark cloud of Grievers followed them, with lightning flashing from the sky._

_The Gladers reached the exit, but some invisible force stopped them from exiting the Glade._

_"RUN!" I screamed. "Get out of there!" The boys clawed at the wall, but there seemed to be no escape. The Grievers were getting closer._

_I screamed as the Grievers reached them and the Maze Doors clanged shut, trapping everyone I knew in the deathly Maze._

_The world spun, my surroundings were just a mass of gray mist._

_"WICKED is good." Those three words echoed around me, driving the thought into my head. "WICKED is good, WICKED is good..."_

_The spinning stopped, and I was dropped in a dark room. A faceless man held a gun to Newt's head._

_I ran to him, but something stopped me from going forward. I pushed against the invisible force, but I couldn't get there._

_"You failed me." Newt said in an oddly calm voice. "You failed us all."_

_"No!" I screamed. "NO!" The faceless man laughed and fired the gun. But instead of dying, Newt's veins blackened, an odd dark substance coming out of him._

_"You failed." He said again, and he jumps through the invisible wall, right at me. He grabs me by the throat and I can't breathe. I gasp for air but nothing comes. I can't-_

"Wake up!"

Newt's voice startles me out of sleep. I gasp for air. I could still feel the dream-Newt's cold hands, squeezing the life out of me.

"Hayl?" Newt said softly. "You were screaming, love. What happened."

"Nightmare." I rasped, still gulping for air. "Couldn't... save you. Oh god, oh no."

"Shh, calm down." Newt soothed. "It's okay, it's not real." I let out a loud sob. It felt too real, too awful.

I took a few deep breaths and calmed down. Newt held me close, as if he was afraid that if he let go, I would get hurt.

"Everyone was trapped in the Maze." I said. "You couldn't get out, and I couldn't get in. I couldn't save everyone."

"It's alright." Newt said. "It didn't actually happen." I shook my head.

"No... but then there was something else." I sobbed. "There was a man and he was going to kill you. You said I failed you, and I did. You... you tried to kill me and I let you." Newt stoked my hair as I cried some more.

"You could never do anything that would make me think you failed me." Newt said. "You are the smartest, bravest, most caring person I know."

"Newt... something bad is going to happen." I said. "I can feel it. I don't know how, but I can tell."

"Whatever happens, we'll get through it together." He whispered.

"I love you." I said quietly.

"I love you, too."

...

"What are you even going to do with a dead Griever?" I asked as Minho prepared to go into the Maze. He and Alby were going to see the supposedly dead Griever.

"Well it's not like we're gonna bring it back here." Minho said. "Just making sure it's actually dead, ya know?"

"Man, I wish I could go with you." I muttered, staring into the Maze.

"I still don't get why you want to be in there so badly."

"It's better than doing a whole lot of nothing here." I retorted. "And it's been seven shucking months since it happened. I'd be fine in there. I am still a Runner."

"Hey, it's not me you need to get the go-ahead from." Minho argued. "It's Newt." I sighed, knowing that Newt would not let me back into the Maze.

"Good luck in there." I said as I walked away. If he said anything else, I didn't hear it.

I just couldn't shake the worry that things were going to take a turn for the worse.

...

"They should be back by now." I muttered. Minho and Alby had been in the Maze for too long. Minho would never get lost in there. Something bad must have happened.

"Anything?" Said a voice behind me. Newt.

"No." I said, keeping my eyes on the Maze. "They have time, though. I'm sure everything's fine." I almost believed myself. Almost.

"Haylee." Newt said in a sort of warning tone. Warning me that things were most definitely not alright.

"I know, I know." I said. I shouldn't have false hope.

"What's wrong with them?" I heard Chuck whisper loudly. "They look like you did when you popped out of the Box."

"I don't know." Thomas replied. "Why don't you go ask 'em?"

"We can hear every shucking word you guys are saying." I called out.

"No wonder people hate sleeping next to you shanks." Newt muttered under his breath. He clearly was not in the mood to deal with them.

"What is wrong with you two?" Chuck asked. "No offense, but you look like clunk."

"Every bloody thing in the universe." Newt said. He started to say more, but then made a sort of choked sound. He could barely even say it.

"Alby and Minho." I said quickly. "They should have come back hours ago."

Thomas badgered us with questions all through dinner, and I really wanted to punch that shank in the face. When asked why we couldn't send out a search party, I thought Newt might explode.

I realized that this was what he felt like when I was stung by a Griever. Waiting and worrying, not knowing if someone you cared about was dead or alive.

The other Runners came back as everyone was eating dinner. Newt and I rushed around, trying to find both Minho and Alby, but neither of them were there. They were still inside the Maze.

I put my head in my hands, not willing to accept it. I told myself that they had time, that things were going to be okay...

"Where are they?" Newt muttered. He was pacing in front of the Doors. Neither of us was quite sure what to do.

"Why don't we send out a search party?" Someone asked. Thomas. Again.

"We can't, okay!" I shouted. "Don't say it again. 100% against the rules. Especially with the shucking Doors about too close."

"But why?" Thomas said. It took all of my strength not to punch him. "Won't the Grievers get them if they stay out there? Shouldn't we do something?" Newt's face reddened with anger.

"Shut your hole, Greenie!" Newt yelled. "Not a bloody week you've been here! You think I wouldn't risk my life in a second to save them?!"

"No... I... sorry, I didn't mean...." Thomas stuttered. Clearly he was not prepared for an angry Newt.

"You don't get it, Tommy." Newt sighed. "Going out there at night is begging for death. We'd just be throwing more lives away. If those shanks don't make it back..." If they didn't make it back, they were dead.

"Look, both of them swore an oath, just like I did. Like we all did. You will too, when you get chosen by a Keeper." I explained. "Never go out at night, no matter what. Never."

"Newt 'n Haylee won't say it." Chuck said to Thomas. "So I will. If they're not back, it means they're dead. Minho's too smart to get lost. They're dead." With that, Chuck walked back towards the Homestead.

"The shank's right." Newt commented sadly. "That's why we can't go out. We can't afford to make things bloody worse than they already are." Tears formed in Newt's eyes, and he grabbed my hand for support. I hadn't seen him like this since... well, since he jumped.

"The Doors close in two minutes." I whispered, more to myself than anything.

Minho was like a brother to me. Losing him would be like losing family.

I quickly wiped tears from my eyes, knowing I had to stay strong for Newt and the other Gladers.

A boom echoed through the Glade as the Doors began too close. If they weren't dead before, they would be soon.

And then I noticed something in the Maze. No, two somethings, running to the door.

Minho and Alby.

"They got him!" Minho shouted, exhausted. He seemed to be half-carrying Alby towards the Doors. Alby must have been stung.

All the Gladers rushed to the Doors as Minho staggered forward.

"Come on, Minho." I whispered. "You can do this."

The Doors were closing too fast. He wasn't going to make it.

I felt a hand grab mine. Newt. I didn't know if it was to comfort me, steady himself, or stop me from running into the Maze. Probably a combination of all three.

I wanted to run in and help him so badly, but I knew that if all three of us died, Newt would try to kill himself again. And this time, there would be no one to save him.

Inside the Maze, Minho stumbled and fell, crashing to the ground along with Alby.

Then I saw the look in Thomas's eyes.

He was going to run in.

"Don't do it, Tommy!" Newt shouted. "Don't you bloody do it!" But Newt's words seemed to do nothing.

At the last second, Thomas sprinted into the Maze. The Doors closed with a resounding boom, sealing their fate.


	9. Miracles in the Maze

_Just face it. They're dead._

I sat on a log, holding my head in my hands. Minho, Alby, Thomas. Probably already dead.

The fire had died hours ago, but I hadn't moved. Neither had Newt, who was standing near the Doors.

"I should have gone in." I said, not really intending for anyone to hear. But Newt did.

"No, you shouldn't have." He said. I looked up, surprised that he said anything. "If you had gone in, you'd be dead too."

"I abandoned them, Newt." I whispered. "I left my friends to die."

"Haylee, look at me." Newt said, dead serious. "You did absolutely nothing wrong, okay. None of this is your fault."

He looked back to the Doors, as if he was waiting for something to happen.

I was worried about Newt, too. Could he really take the loss of his two best friends? Not to mention the Greenie. No one had died this quickly upon arriving in the Glade.

And if Alby did die, Newt would become the leader of the Glade. Could he handle that responsibility, especially after this?

...

No one slept much that night.

Sure, I knew that eventually someone was going to be trapped in there for the night. But I certainly never imagined it being Alby, or Minho, or a Greenie.

There were only a few minutes before the Doors opened, and I was terrified as to what we would find.

Another loud boom could be heard throughout the Glade, signaling that the Doors were about to open.

I almost expected to see them standing there. Thomas would ask some stupid questions, and Minho would make a sassy remark. But when the Maze became visible, it was clear that no one was there.

I let out a ragged breath. They were dead.

"They're not coming back." Newt said, turning and walking back towards the Homestead.

"Wait!" Chuck shouted. "I see something!" We all turned to see two people stumbling through the Maze and spilling out into the glade. Thomas and Minho.

Alive.

"Oh my god." I muttered, sprinting over to them. The other Gladers followed. Part of me wondered if it was a dream, but I knew that it wasn't. They had survived.

"What happened?" Newt asked upon reaching them. "How in the bloody-"

"We'll tell you later." Thomas interrupted, out of breath. "We have to save Alby."

"What do you mean?" I questioned. "Alby's alive?" That seemed impossible. Sure, Minho and Thomas might have been able to outrun the Grievers, but Alby had been stung.

"Just come here." Thomas said, stepping back into the Maze. He pointed up, and I followed his gaze to see Alby hanging in the ivy.

"Is he... alive?" Newt asked, not daring to believe it.

"I don't know." Thomas admitted. "He was when I left him up there."

"When you left him..." Newt muttered, still very much in shock. How had they managed to not only stay alive, but managed to keep Alby alive as well?

"Thomas, you and Minho get yourselves checked by the Med-Jacks." I ordered. "You look awful. Then tell us the whole shucking story when you're done."

Thomas nodded and walked towards the Homestead with Minho.

"Alright, how should we bloody do this?" Newt asked, staring up at Alby. I studied the ivy, trying to find some kind of path or pattern.

I jumped up and grabbed the first vine in reach. I kept going, climbing up the Maze wall, trying to reach Alby.

I glanced down at Newt, who looked utterly terrified. I cursed my forgetfulness. This was exactly what had happened to him.

"Newt, I'll be fine!" I yelled down. "Get some other Gladers to help me get Alby down!" Newt nodded slowly and then ran to get some more people.

I continued climbing until I reached Alby. At this point, Newt had come back with a few other boys, all ready to help.

"I'm going to lower him down!" I shouted, hoping that they could hear me. I tied the vines so that Alby was attached to a longer one. Using the knife that I always kept in my belt, I cut the top of the vine off.

I slowly lowered Alby to the ground, the Gladers prepared to catch him if he fell. Once he was safely on the ground, I carefully climbed back down the wall.

Once I was close to the ground, I jumped down and landed on my feet in front of the Gladers.

"Alright, get him to the bloody Med-Jacks." Newt said, and the other boys carried Alby out of the Maze and towards the Homestead.

...

"He's alive."

Newt's voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I turned to see him with a somewhat glad expression on his face.

"What?" I asked, as I hadn't really heard him the first time.

"Alby." Newt explained. "The serum worked, he's alive."


	10. The Gathering

Thomas had survived a night in the Maze. He had helped save Alby. But, he had also broken the number-one rule of the Glade: Don't go into the Maze.

So, a Gathering had to be held to decide if we would punish Thomas. The Council consisted of all 10 Keepers, Newt, Alby, and me. My title in the Council is "representing the females of the Glade." In reality, most of the boys wanted me on the Council, and that was just the formal excuse.

"In place of our leader, sick in bed, I declare this Gathering begun." Newt said. I could see him roll his eyes slightly at the ridiculously formal words. "As you all know, the last few days have been bloody crazy, and quite a bit seems centered around our Greenbean, Tommy, seated before us." Thomas looked at the ground, embarrassed.

"He's not the Greenie anymore." Gally commented. "He's just a rule breaker now." The entire room was suddenly full of whispers, which Newt shushed immediately.

"Gally, try to keep some order here." Newt sighed. "If you're gonna protest every time I say something, you can go ahead and bloody leave because I'm not in a very cheerful mood." Gally scowled, but didn't say anything else. "Glad we got that out of the way. Reason we're here is because almost every kid in the Glade has come up to me in the last day or two either talking about how much they hate Thomas or wanting him to be King of the World."

Gally started to talk, but Newt silenced him with a glare.

"You'll have your change, Gally." Newt explained, exasperated. "One at a time. And Tommy, you can't say anything until we ask you to." Thomas nodded. "Zart the Fart, you start."

"Well, I don't know." Zart, Keeper of the Track-hoes, said. "He broke one of our most important rules, and we can't let people think that's okay. But now we know we can survive out there, and that we can beat the Grievers."

"Oh, give me a break!" Gally exclaimed. "I bet Minho's the one who actually got rid of the shucking things." Why couldn't Gally just shut up?!

"Shut your hole, Gally!" Newt yelled. "I'm the bloody Chair right now, and if I hear one more word out of turn from you, I'll be arranging another banishing for you!" Gally scowled once again and slouched forward.

"Is that it?" Newt asked Zart. "Any official recommendations." Zart shook his head. "Okay. Frypan, you're next.:"

"How stupid is this? He saved Alby's life and killed some Grievers, and we're talking about punishing him?" Frypan reasoned. "This is a pile of klunk."

"So what are you recommending?" Newt asked, clearly annoyed with this whole Gathering.

"Put him on the freaking Council and then he'll train us on what he did."

Shouts erupted from almost everyone in the room. Frypan had made a good argument initially, but he had taken it too far with his recommendation.

"Alright, writing it down." Newt muttered when he had finally gotten everyone to settle down. "Now everyone keep their bloody mouths shut, I mean it. You know the rules: We'll accept every idea, and you all can vote on it later." He pointed to the next Keeper.

"I don't really have an opinion." The Keeper said.

"What?" Newt asked. "Why are you even on the Council then?"

"Sorry, I honestly don't." He said. "I guess I agree with Frypan. Why punish a guy for saving someone's life?"

"So you do have an opinion." Newt muttered, writing something on his notepad.

"I think he should be punished." Winston, who was next, said. "No offense, Greenie, but Newt, you're always harping on about order. We're setting a bad example if we don't punish him. He broke our Number One Rule."

"Okay." Newt said. "What kind of punishment are you recommending?"

"I think he should be put in the Slammer for a week with only bread and water." Winston explained. "And we need to make sure everyone knows about it so they don't get any ideas." Gally actually clapped, and I glared at him.

A couple more Keepers spoke, some agreeing with Frypan, some with Winston.

"Alright, Haylee, what do you think?" Newt asked. I thought about it for a moment, and then voiced my opinion.

"We have to make it known that it is still very much against the rules to just run into the Maze." I said. "But Thomas proved that we are not helpless against those... monsters. What he did may have been stupid, but it was brave too. I recommend some small form of punishment, nothing too harsh, and then he can show us exactly how he killed those Grievers."

Next up was Newt.

"I agree with the lot of you." Newt explained. "He should be punished, but then we definitely need to figure out a way to use him. I'm saving my recommendation for the end. Next." The Keepers each took their turn talking, until the only ones left were Gally and Minho.

"I think I've made my opinions pretty clear already." Gally said.

"Good that." Newt muttered. "Go on then, Minho."

"No!" Gally shouted suddenly. "I still wanna say something."

"Then bloody say it." Newt said, clearly annoyed.

"Just think about it." Gally reasoned. "This slinthead comes up in the Box, acting all confused and scared. A few days later, he's running around the Maze with Grievers, acting like he owns the place. I think it was all an act. How could she have done what he did out there after just a few days? I ain't buying it."

"Well what're you trying to say, Gally?" Newt asked. "How about having a bloody point?"

"I think he's a spy from the people who put us here." Gally concluded. Protests erupted from almost every Keeper. That notion was ridiculous. A spy from the Creators?

"We can't trust this shank!" Gally yelled over the uproar. "Day after he shows up, a psycho girl comes, sprouting off that things are gonna change, clutching that freaky note. We find a dead Griever. Thomas conveniently finds himself in the Maze for the night, then tries to convince everyone he's hero. Well, neither Minho nor anyone else actually saw him do anything in the vines. How do we know it was the Greenie who tied Alby up there."

Gally's whole statement was complete klunk. First of all, who else would have tied Alby in the vines? I was about to say something, but Gally wasn't finished.

"There's too many weird things going on, and it all started when this shuck-face Greenie showed up. And he just happens to be the first person to survive a night out in the Maze. Something isn't right, and until we figure it out. I officially recommend that we lock his butt in the Slammer for a month, and then maybe have another review."

Newt wrote that down, although he was shaking his head, clearly displeased with Gally's accusations. Then again, who wasn't?

"Finished, Captain Gally." Newt snarked.

"Quit being such a smart aleck, Newt." Gally said. "I'm dead serious. How can we trust this shank after less than a week? Quit voting me down before you even thing about what I'm saying."

I sighed. As much as I hated to admit it, he kind of had a point there.

"Fine, Gally." Newt sighed. "I'm sorry. We heard you, and we'll all consider your bloody recommendation. Are you done?"

"Yes, I'm done." Gally spat. "And I'm right."

"Go ahead, Minho." Newt said. "Last, but not least."

"I was out there, I saw what this guy did." Minho said. "He stayed strong while I turned into a scared chicken. No blabbing on and on like Gally. I want to say my recommendation and be done with it."

"Good that." Newt muttered. "Tell us then."

"I nominate this shank to replace me as Keeper of the Runners."

No one said anything for a minute. Surely he was joking? Thomas had been here not even a week, and Minho wanted to make him Keeper of the Runners?

"That's ridiculous!" Gally shouted. "He should be kicked off the Council for saying something so stupid."

Then everyone started shouting.

Some people were saying how stupid this was, some were demanding a vote. I couldn't even tell, everyone was so loud. This is what happens when there's only one girl. Well, two girls now, I suppose.

I raised my eyebrows and Minho, but he just winked. Clearly, he had a plan.

Furiously, Newt stepped down and yelled at everyone to shut up. Eventually, everyone calmed down.

"I've never seen so many shanks acting like such babies." Newt said. "We may not look it, but around these parts we're adults. Act like it, or we'll disband this bloody Council and start from scratch. Are we clear?" The Keepers all nodded. Boys.

"Good that." Newt sighed. "That's some pretty serious klunk, Minho. Sorry, but you need to talk to up to move it forward."

"It's sure easy for you shanks to sit here and talk about something you're stupid on." Minho began. "I'm the only Runner in this group, and the only other ones here who have even been out in the Maze are Newt and Haylee."

"No if you count the time I-" Gally started to say, but Minho cut him off.

"I don't!" Minho yelled. "And believe me, you or nobody else has the slightest clue what it's like to be out there. The only reason you were stung is because you broke the same rule you're blaming Thomas for. That's called hypocrisy, you shuck-faced piece of-" Newt cut him off, although I really wanted Minho to continue putting Gally in his place.

"Enough." Newt interrupted. "Defend your proposal and be done with it."

"Anyway, listen to me." Minho sighed. "I've never seen anything like it. He didn't panic, he didn't whine or cry, never seemed scared. Dude, he'd been here for just a few days. Think about what we all were like in the beginning. Huddling in corners, disoriented, not trusting anyone, crying, refusing to do anything. We were all like that, for weeks or months, until we had no choice but to shuck it and live. Just a few days after this guy shows up, he steps out in the Maze to save two shanks he hardly. knows. All this klunk about him breaking a rule is just beyond stupid. He didn't get the rules yet. But plenty of people had told him what it's like in the Maze, especially at night. And he still stepped out there, just as the Door was closing, only caring that two people needed help. But that was just the beginning. After that, he saw me give up on Alby, leave him for dead. And I was the veteran, the one with all the experience and knowledge. I told Thomas we had to split up, andI started the evasive maneuvers, running in the patterns. Thomas should have been wetting his. Pants, but he took control and defied physics and gravity to get Alby up on the wall, diverted the Grievers, and-"

"We get the point!" Gally exclaimed. "Thomas here is a lucky shank."

"No, you worthless shuck, you don't get it!" Minho shouted, his anger pushed past the breaking point. "I've been here two years, and I've never seen anything like it. For you to say anything..."

We were all on the edges of our seats, waiting to hear what Minho would say next. He was on a roll, and none of us were going to stop him.

"Gally." Minho said, strangely calm. "You're nothing but a sissy who has never, not once, asked to be a Runner or tried out for it. You don't have the right to talk about this you don't understand, so shut your mouth."

"Say one more thing to me like that and I'll break your neck, right here in front of everybody."

I nearly snorted. Minho could take down Gally in a fight any day.

Minho shoved Gally forward. Gally tripped over his chair and fell to the ground.

"I swear, Gally." Minho said. "Don't ever threaten me again. Don't ever speak to me again. Ever. If you do, I'll break your shuck neck right after I'm dome with your arms and legs."

Minho moved towards him again, but by this time, most of the Keepers had stood up. A couple Keepers grabbed Minho's arms, stopping him from doing anything further.

Gally stood up and backed away, livid.

"This are different now. You shouldn't have done that, Minho, you should not have done that." Gally's anger then shifted to Newt. "I know you hate me, that you've always hated me. You should be Banished for your embarrassing inability to lead this group. You're shameful, and any one of you who stays here is no better."

My hands curled into fists. I had an urge to punch Gally in the face and kick him, well, in that place. Newt grabbed my arm, stopping me from moving forward.

"Not worth it." Newt muttered to me.

"Thing are going to change. This, I promise." Gally continued. "And you, the Greenbean, who thinks he own the place. Don't forget I've seen you before, I've been through the Changing. What these guys decide doesn't mean jack. Whatever you came here for, I swear on my life I'm gonna stop it. Kill you, if I have to."

With that, Gally stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

"That was dramatic." I muttered as we all sat down. A couple people nodded in agreement.

"He's finally whacked for good." Minho said.

"Well you're not the bloody saint in the room." Newt replied. "What were you thinking? That was a little overboard, don't you think."

"Don't give me that garbage." Minho countered. "Everyone of you loved seeing that slinthead get what he deserved, and you know it. It's about time someone stood up to his klunk."

"He's on the Council for a reason." Newt said.

"Dude, he threatened to break my neck and kill Thomas!" Minho exclaimed. "The guy is insane, and you better send someone right now to throw him in the Slammer. He's dangerous."

"Maybe he had a good point." Winston whispered.

"What?" Minho and I asked at the same time. What the shuck was Winston talking about.

"Well, he has been through the Changing." Winston said. "That means he has memories, and he said the Greenie looks familiar. Why would he make that up?"

"Ok, first of all, just because he recognizes Thomas doesn't mean that Thomas did anything wrong." I said. "Second, did you see what just happened?"

"Gally's psycho." Frypan added. "You can't put too much stock in his rambling klunk. What, you think Thomas is some kind of Griever in disguise?"

"Can I say something now?" Thomas said, speaking for the first time since the Gathering began. "I'm sick of you guys talking about me like I'm not here.

"Go ahead." Newt sighed. "This bloody meeting can't be much more screwed up."

"I don't know why Gally hates me." Thomas said. "I don't care. He seems psychotic to me. And as for who I really am, you all know as much as I do. But If I remember correctly, we're here because of what I did out in the Maze, not because some idiot thinks I'm evil."

"Good that." Newt said, seeming satisfied. "Let's just get this bloody meeting over with and worry about Gally later."

"We can't vote without all the members here." Winston reminded us. "Unless, they're really sick, like Alby."

"For the love, Winston." Newt said. "I'd say Gally's ill today too, so we continue without him. Thomas, defend yourself and then we'll take a vote on what we should do with you."

"I didn't do anything wrong." Thomas argued. "All I know is I saw two people struggling to get inside these walls and they couldn't make it. To ignore that because of some stupid rule seemed selfish, cowardly, and... well, stupid. If you want to throw me in jail for trying to save someone's life, then go ahead. Next time I promise I'll point and them and laugh, then walk away without a second thought."

Honestly, Thomas was right. He shouldn't be punished for doing the right thing, but things weren't always fair in the Glade.

"Here's my recommendation." Newt said. "You broke our bloody Number One Rule, so you get one day in the Slammer. That's your punishment. I also recommend we elect you as a Runner, effective the second this meeting's over. You've proven more in one night than most trainees do in weeks. As for you being the Keeper, forget it. Gally was right on that count: Stupid idea."

"Why?" Minho asked. "He's the best we have, I swear it. The best should be the Keeper."

"Fine." Newt replied, throwing his hands up in the air. "If that's true, we'll make the change later. Give it a month and see if he proves himself."

"Good that." Minho said with a shrug.

"Ok, we've had several recommendations, so let's go around the room-" Newt started to say.

"Oh come on." Frypan interrupted. "Just vote. I vote for yours."

"Me too." I said.

"And me." Minho chimed in. One by one, the Keepers voted. Winston was the only one to say no to Newt's recommendation.

"We don't need your vote, but tell us what's bonking around your brain." Newt said, clearly wanting this meeting to end.

"It's fine with me, but we shouldn't completely ignore what Gally said." Winston explained. "Something about it... I don't think he just made it up. And it's true that ever since Thomas got here, everything's been shucked and screwy."

"Fair enough." Newt said. "Everyone put some thought into it, and maybe we'll have another Gathering. Good?" Everyone nodded.

"I love you guys are talking about me like I'm not here." Thomas added.

"Look Tommy, we just made you a bloody Runner, so stop your complaining and get out of here." Newt snapped. "Minho has a lot of training to give you."

"What about my punishment?" Thomas asked.

"Tomorrow, the wake-up till sunset." Newt concluded. Everyone hurried out except for Thomas, Minho, Newt, and me.

Once the other Keepers were gone, Newt banged his head on the makeshift podium.

"That was a bloody mess." He groaned.

"You did great." I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. "I might've snapped and killed all of 'em if I was in your position." That made Newt laugh.

"Remind me to never make you the leader." He snickered.

Suddenly, Chuck ran into the room, bursting with energy.

"What's wrong?" Newt asked, standing up abruptly.

"Med-Jacks sent me." Chuck panted.

"Why?" I asked.

"I guess Alby's thrashing around and acting all crazy, telling them he needs to talk to someone."

We all moved towards the door, but Chuck helped up a hand.

"Um... he doesn't want you." Chuck said to Newt.

"What do you mean?"

"He keeps asking for him." Chuck said, pointing directly at Thomas.


	11. Memories

Thomas? Why would Alby want to talk to Thomas?

"Well come on then." Newt muttered, grabbing Thomas by the arm. We made our way out of the Council room and towards the Homestead.

"You. Stay." Newt said to Chuck with a glare. Chuck made a small noise, but stayed put.

We climbed the stairs silently. Both Thomas and Newt seemed worried, although probably for different reasons. What if Alby made the same accusations as Gally?

Inside, Alby was lying on a bed, looking strangely peaceful.

"Is he asleep?" Thomas asked.

"I don't know." I replied. Newt crouched down next to the bed.

"Alby." Newt whispered. "Chuck said you wanted to talk to Tommy." Alby's eyes fluttered open, and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah." He muttered.

"Chuck said you were thrashing around, acting like a loonie." Newt continued. "What's wrong? Are you still sick?"

"Everything's... gonna change. The girl... Thomas... I saw them." Abby wheezed. "Don't feel so good."

"What do you mean you saw-" Newt began, but Alby cut him off.

"I wanted Thomas!" Alby shouted suddenly. "I didn't ask for you, Newt! I asked for freaking Thomas!"

"Fine, you grouchy shank." Newt muttered. He glanced my way, alarmed. "He's right here. Talk to him."

"Leave." Alby said, looking at Newt, and then at me. "Both of you, leave."

"No way, I wanna hear."

"Newt." I said softly. "I think we should go."

"But-" Newt began to protest.

"OUT!" Alby yelled. "Get out!" A shocked expression appeared on Newt's face, replaced with anger. He stood up and followed me to the door.

"Don't expect me to kiss your butt when you come saying sorry." Newt muttered, stepping out into the hallway.

"Close the door!" Alby said, and Newt slammed it shut.

I could hear murmurs inside the room, but I couldn't tell what they were actually saying. Newt was pacing in front of the door, muttering something unintelligible.

"Why Thomas?" He said eventually. "The shank's been here for about a week, and yet he's the only one Alby wants to talk to?"

"I'm sure everything's fine." I reassured, although I was skeptical.

"Newt, Haylee!" Thomas suddenly screamed. "Get in here!" Without a word, Newt flung the door open, and we ran inside. Alby had grabbed his own throat, choking himself.

Newt and I sprang into action, each going to a different side of Alby, trying to get his hands off his own neck.

"Grab his legs!" I shouted to Thomas. He moved, but Alby's legs flailed out and kicked Thomas in the face.

"Just bloody do it!" Newt yelled. Thomas got ahold of Alby's legs, while Newt and I were still trying to pry Alby's fingers away.

With a newfound strength, I pulled Alby's left arm away. A couple seconds later, Newt had Alby's right hand. Alby thrashed and jerked, but his breathing slowed, and, after a few minutes, he calmed down.

Newt and I slowly let go of Alby's arms, and they dropped on the side of the bed. Thomas also released him, and Alby looked up at Newt.

"I'm sorry Newt." Alby whispered. "Don't know what happened. It was like... something was controlling my body. I'm sorry..."

"Sorries, nothing." Newt retorted. "You were trying to bloody kill yourself." He winced slightly at the words, knowing he wasn't one to say that.

"Wasn't me, I swear." Alby said.

"What do you mean it wasn't you?" I asked. It just didn't make any sense.

"I don't know..." Alby tried to explain. "It- it wasn't me."

"Get your butt to sleep." Newt sighed. "We'll talk about it later. You're messed up, shank." Newt gestured to the door, and the three of us started to walk out when Alby murmured something else.

"What?" Newt asked.

"Be careful with the girl." Alby warned. Newt and I looked at Thomas, wondering if he knew something, but the Greenie just shrugged.

"And Newt?" Alby called. "Protect the Maps." Newt and I exchanged a confused glance. Why did we need to protect the Maps? Everyone in the Glade knew how important they were.

Alby seemed to be done speaking, so we exited the room quietly. From there, we walked down the steps of the Homestead and into the sunlight of the Glade.

"Hungry, Tommy?" Newt asked. Thomas looked shocked by the question.

"Hungry?" He echoed. "I feel like puking after what I just saw. No, I'm not hungry."

"Well I am." Newt said. He glanced at me, and I nodded. I had barely eaten breakfast, and I am the type of person that needs food. "Let's go look for some leftovers from lunch. We need to talk."

"I knew you were going to say something like that." Thomas grumbled. At the kitchen, Frypan gave us some sandwiches and vegetables. The usual leftovers.

We ended up eating near the west wall, sitting with our backs to the ivy. Thomas reluctantly ate his food, which was smart.

"Even seen that happen before?" Thomas said.

"What Alby just did?" I asked. Thomas nodded. "No. Never. But then again, no one's ever tried to tell us what they remembered during the Changing. They always decline to say anything. Alby tried to, so that must be why he went nuts for a while." Thomas contemplated that, as did I. It had never crossed my mind, but could the Creators somehow control us?

"We need to find Gally." Newt said, breaking the silence and changing the subject. "Shank's gone off and hid somewhere. Soon as we're done eating, we need to find him and throw his butt in jail."

"Seriously?" Thomas asked, not bothering to hide his pleasure.

"He threatened to kill you, and we have to make bloody sure that never happens again." Newt said. "That shuck-face is gonna pay a heavy price for that. He'll be lucky if we don't Banish him. Remember what I told you about order."

"Yeah." Thomas muttered.

"Alright, here's how things are gonna go." I explained, turning to face Thomas. "You're with us for the rest of today, we need to figure things out. Tomorrow, the Slammer. Then you're with Minho, and I want you to stay away from the other shanks for a while. Got it?"

"Sounds beautiful." Thomas said. He must have liked the idea of finally being alone. "So Minho's gonna train me."

"That's right." Newt confirmed. "You're a Runner now. Minho'll teach you. The Maze, the Maps, everything. You've got a lot to learn, and I expect you to work your butt off." 

I thought back to when I first became a Runner. I caught on pretty quickly. I had been good at it too. Then the Griever came along, and I was stuck in the Glade. I don't really know why I wanted to go back in. But now especially, I knew I had to stay in the Glade. With Alby in, well, his condition, Newt was the temporary leader, and he'd need help.

"Thomas." Newt said in a very serious tone. "I need you to accept something. We've heard it too many times to deny it, and it's time to discuss it. Gally said it. Alby said it. Ben said it. The girl, after we took her out of the Box, she said it."

"They all said things were going to change." Thomas said.

"That's right." Newt acknowledged. "And Gally, Alby, and Ben claimed they saw you in their memories, and from what I gather, you weren't exactly planting flowers and helping old ladies cross the street. And Gally thinks you did something bad enough that warrants him trying to kill you."

"Newt, I don't know-" Thomas began, but Newt interrupted him again.

"I know you don't remember anything Thomas." Newt sighed. "Please quit saying that. Don't ever say it again. None of us remember anything, and we're bloody sick of you reminding us. The point is, there's something different about you, and we're gonna figure it out."

"Fine, so how do we do it?" Thomas snapped. "I want to know who I am just as much as anyone else. Obviously."

"I need you to open your mind." I said calmly. "Try to think. Be honest if anything, anything at all, seems familiar."

Thomas was silent for a moment, but I could see that he was figuring something out. Evidently, so did Newt.

"I can see your wheel spinning." Newt muttered. "Talk."

"Well... I can't put my finger on anything specific." Thomas began. "But I did feel like I'd been here before when I first got here. Anyone else go through that?" Newt just stared at Thomas, both shocked and annoyed.

"Um, no." I said. "Most of us spend a week or two bawling our eyes or or klunking our pants."

"Yeah, well it all seemed familiar to me." Thomas said. "And I knew I wanted to be a Runner."

"That's bloody interesting." Newt murmured suspiciously. "Well, keep looking for it. Strain your mind, spend your free time wandering around your thoughts, and really think. Seek it out. Try, for all of our sakes."

"I will." Thomas said, and he closed his eyes. He though Newt wanted him to do the deep thinking now.

"Not now, you dumb shank." Newt laughed. "Just try to do it from now on. Any time you can. Tell us anything that seems at all familiar. Got it?"

"Yeah, got it."

"Good that." I muttered. "First, we're gonna go see someone."

"Who?" Thomas asked.

"The girl." I replied. "Look at her till your eyes bleed, see if something gets triggered in that brain of yours."

"Then tell us every singe word Alby said to you." Newt added.

"Okay." Thomas said, although he didn't seem very happy about that prospect. Then again, who would be?

"If all else fails, we'll send you to the bloody Grievers." Newt muttered. "Get you stung so you can go through the Changing. We need you memories."

Thomas laughed, thinking it was a joke. But the look on Newt's face told me that he was dead serious.


	12. Bad Day, Perfect Night

The girl was sleeping peacefully, looking perfectly healthy. Clint was getting her to drink some water, desperately trying to keep her alive.

"Hey Clint." Newt said. "She surviving?"

"Yeah." Clint replied. "She's doing fine, and she talks in her sleep all the time. We think she'll come out of it soon."

"Have you been writing down everything she says?" I asked.

"Most of it's impossible to understand." Clint said, nodding. "But yeah, when we can."

"Give me an example." Newt ordered. Clint pulled out a notepad and squinted at the writing.

"Well, the same thing she said when we pulled her out of the Box." Clint began. "About things changing. Other stuff about the Creators and how it all has to end. And..." Clint glanced at Thomas, wondering if he was allowed to hear this.

"It's okay." Newt said. "He can hear whatever we hear."

"Well, I can't make it all out but... She keeps saying his name over and over." Clint said with a glance at Thomas.

We all stared at Thomas. What was going on?

"Thanks Clint." I said hurriedly. "Get us a report of all that, okay?"

"Will do." Clint muttered, walking out of the room.

"Pull up a chair." Newt said, sitting on the edge of the bed. I knelt down next to her as Thomas sat right next to her head.

"Anything ring a bell?" Newt asked. "Anything at all?" Thomas closed his eyes, trying to think.

"I do know her." Thomas whispered. Newt and I exchanged a glance. Our suspicions were correct.

"Who is she?" I asked softly.

"No idea." Thomas said. "But something clicked. I- I know her from somewhere."

"Well keep bloody thinking." Newt muttered. "Don't lose it. Try to concentrate."

"I just don't-" Thomas started to say, and then he jolted back as if he had been slapped. He practically jumped out of his chair, and his skin turned as pale as a ghost's.

"What's wrong?" I said. "Did you remember something?"

"I... did either of you say anything before I stood up?" Thomas asked shakily. What the shuck just happened to him?

"No." I answered. "No one said a thing."

"Oh. I just thought I heard something." Thomas said. "Maybe it was in my head. Did she say anything?"

"Her?" Newt asked. "Nothing. Why, what did you hear?"

"I heard a name." Thomas whispered. "Teresa."

"Teresa?" Newt repeated. "No, I didn't hear that. Must've been a bloody memory! That's her name. Teresa. It has to be."

"I swear, I heard it." Thomas insisted. The way he was acting worried me a bit. "But in my mind. I can't explain it."

I was trying to think of what that could mean. Was our Greenie going crazy?

Just as suddenly as the first time, Thomas jumped up and backed away from the bed, almost as if he was scared of her.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked. "You look like you just saw a shucking ghost."

"She's talking to me!" Thomas shouted. "In my head. She just said my name." Newt and I glanced at each other, confused, and then turned back to Thomas.

"What?"

"I swear!" Thomas yelled. "I'm hearing her... in my head... a voice..."

"Tommy, sit down." Newt said. "What are you bloody talking about?"

"Guys, I'm serious." Thomas said, starting to calm down. "It's not really a voice, but it is."

"Thomas, what's going on?" I asked. I was really worried now. Something was seriously wrong with him. "Thomas?"

But Thomas wasn't listening.

"Tommy?" Newt yelled. Thomas just ignored both of us and sprinted away as fast as he could, clutching his head.

We ran down after him, Newt going a bit slower because of his limp. I exited the Homestead just in time to see Thomas running as fast as he could into the Maze.

"Shuck!" I cursed. Thomas didn't know his way around the Maze. What if he got lost. 

"Does he want to bloody die?" Newt muttered.

"He'll come back." I said. True enough, Thomas did come running back after a while, but he ignored everyone and went straight to the Deadheads. Newt started to go in that direction, but I stopped him.

"I think he wants to be alone." I said. "You can go check on him later." Newt reluctantly nodded, and we made our way back towards the Homestead.

...

Thomas had stayed in the Deadheads for the rest of the night. Newt had gone to check on him and reported that he had fallen asleep. Newt then proceeded to cover Thomas in blankets, being the Glade Mother, as per usual.

By the time we went to sleep, I felt exhausted. After all, the day started with that awful Gathering, and then the whole thing with Alby, and then Thomas and the girl.

And yet, sleep wouldn't come.

"Newt." I whispered. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah." He replied. "Can't seem to fall asleep."

"Me neither." I said. We laid there in silence for a few more moments, as just being together was amazing.

"I remember a song." I said after a while. I'm not sure why I brought it up, something in me just wanted to say it. "From before, I mean."

"Really?" He asked. "Can you sing it right now."

"Newt, I don't think it's a song that you-" I started to say, as it was a sad sort of song.

"Please?" He said. "For me?" I sighed.

"Fine." I grumbled. I cleared my throat, and then I began to sing quietly.

_Did you lose what won't return?  
Did you love but never learn?  
The fire's out but still it burns  
And no one cares, there's no one there_

_Did you find it hard to breathe?  
Did you cry so much that you could barely see?  
You're in the darkness all alone  
And no one cares, there's no one there_

_But did you see the flares in the sky?  
Were you blinded by the light?  
Did you feel the smoke in your eyes?  
Did you, did you?  
Did you see the sparks filled with hope?  
You are not alone  
'Cause someone's out there, sending out flares_

_Did you break but never mend?  
Did it hurt so much you thought it was the end?  
Lose your heart but don't know when  
And no one cares, there's no one there_

_But did you see the flares in the sky?  
Were you blinded by the light?  
Did you feel the smoke in your eyes?  
Did you, did you?  
Did you see the sparks filled with hope?  
You are not alone  
'Cause someone's out there, sending out flares  
Someone's out there, sending out flares_

_Did you lose what won't return?  
Did you love but never learn?_

_But did you see the flares in the sky?  
Were you blinded by the light?  
Did you feel the smoke in your eyes?  
Did you, did you?  
Did you see the sparks filled with hope?  
You are not alone  
'Cause someone's out there, sending out flares_

_But did you see the flares in the sky?  
Were you blinded by the light?  
Did you feel the smoke in your eyes?  
Did you, did you?  
Did you see the sparks filled with hope?  
You are not alone  
'Cause someone's out there, sending out flares_

Newt was quiet after I stopped singing, and I was worried that something was wrong. Had the song triggered something?

"That was beautiful." He whispered.

"Really?" I asked. "I don't know why the Creators gave me that song. It's so... sad."

"I think I know." Newt said. "It's us."

"What?"

"The song is us." He explained. "We both lost something in ourselves that won't return. We love each other, but we didn't really learn, not at first. 'Finding it hard to breathe'... we both almost died. And I don't think I need to explain the line about 'crying os hard you could barely see.' And we both know what 'break but never mend' is. And 'hurting so much you thought it was the end' is about the fact that you were nearly killed, and I nearly killed myself. But there's always a light, a bright spot in the darkness. You're my light, and I'm yours. We're not alone, because we have each other."

"That was brilliant." I mumbled. I leaned up and kissed him softly. What did I do to deserve someone like Newt. "I love you so much."

"I love you, Haylee." Newt said. "And I think you have the best singing voice in the entire world."


	13. The Slammer

"Wake up!"

I woke up abruptly and the anger immediately set it. Whoever woke me up would most likely get something thrown in their face by me.

I glanced over at Newt, and it seemed that he was also rudely awakened. I turned to the doorway to see Minho, standing with his hands on his hips and smirking.

"Well that worked." He muttered.

"Minho!" I shouted, throwing a pillow at him. He dodged it easily and laughed.

"Bloody hell." Newt groaned. "Whatever you woke us up for better be important."

"Trust me, it is." Minho said. "Last night, Gally went into the Maze."

"What?!" We both exclaimed at the same time, sitting up so fast that we fell out of the hammock. 

"Yeah, someone saw him go in." Minho said. "The Doors closed before he could come back." I stood up, contemplating this. Why would Gally purposefully go in to the Maze, especially after what happened last time?

"I think we have to assume he's dead." I said. "I know you and Thomas survived, but you're Runners. Gally's just a crazy shank with a death wish."

"Yeah, well, I'm going into the Maze soon, so I'll tell you if I find anything." Minho said. He started to walk away, but then he paused. "Oh, Haylee, were you singing last night?"

Shuck.

Minho just smirked and dashed out of the room before either of us could say anything. Hopefully, none of the other Gladers had heard. It just seemed kind of embarrassing.

"Well, now we're bloody awake." Newt said. "Might as well eat something."

We changed and then walked down to the kitchen. I was immediately surprised when I was Alby already there, getting his food.

"Alby, what're you bloody doing?" Newt asked once we reached our destination. Alby actually looked fine, which surprised me after yesterday's events.

"I'm alright, Newt." Alby said. "You don't have to be the shucking leader anymore, I figured you'd be happy." Newt was glad that he didn't need to lead the Gladers, but I could tell that he was still worried about Alby.

Newt muttered something under his breath and then walked away, presumably to take Thomas to the Slammer.

I glanced back at Alby, and I saw no trace fo the madness that plagued him just yesterday. He must have noticed me looking, because he just rolled his eyes and walked away.

After breakfast, I went to work in the gardens, as usual. The day was uneventful, which was odd for the Glade.

...

It was the afternoon, and I had just started my break when Alby walked up to me, clearly needing something.

"Haylee, can you check on the Greenie?" Alby asked. "Slammer's probably boring him, couldn't hurt to give him some company."

"Sure." I said with a shrug, and I made my way over to the Slammer. Thomas was sitting against the wall, staring blankly at nothing.

He glanced up sharply when he heard me approaching.

"Is it time already?" He asked.

"Sorry, but no." I answered. "Alby sent me to check on you, make sure you're not bored to death."

"I guess I'm good." Thomas said. "Can I ask you something?"

"Well, you ask every question anyways, so why not." I said, smirking.

"It's two questions, actually." Thomas corrected himself. I nodded for him to go on. "Why are you the only girl here?"

"Honestly, I have no idea." I said. "For six months, it was all boys, and then I came up. All boys after that, until Teresa. At first, I thought it might have been a mistake, but I guess I'm here for a reason." Thomas nodded, and I gestured for him to ask his next question.

"What happened to you in the Maze?"

I jerked back. That was one question I had not been expecting him to ask. How did he even know that something had happened?

"What do you mean?" I asked shakily.

"I've heard you asking Minho if you can go back in." Thomas explained. "And when people mention the Maze, you and Newt... I can just tell that something bad happened." There was no way I was going to tell him about Newt's jump. But, I guess telling him what happened to me couldn't hurt.

"I used to be a Runner." I said. "And there was one day... I was about to come back to the Glade when a Griever came. I couldn't run fast enough. I wasn't stung, and I was unconscious most of the time, but the boys said that it was pretty bad." Something in Thomas's eyes told me that he knew there was something else.

"And what happened to Newt?" Thomas whispered, barely audible.

"Sorry Greenie." I said. "But that's not my story to tell." Thankfully, he didn't keep asking.

"Someone'll come let you out in a few hours." I said, and then walked away hurriedly. Something about Thomas made me nervous, but I had no idea why.

Thomas bringing it up brought back all the memories of Newt's fall, and all the awful days that followed...

_"Haylee, you need to go to sleep." Minho said. "I know you're worried, but you need to take care of yourself too."_

_"I'm fine." I replied harshly. Newt had been unconscious for almost two days now. The Med-Jacks said that he was going to be okay, but I still refused to leave him._   
_"If you say so." Minho said, walking out of the med-hut._

_"Come on, Newt." I whispered. "Fight it. I know you can."_

_He woke up a few hours later, groaning and trying to sit up. While it was a relief to see him awake, the look in his eyes was unbearable._

_"You should have left me." Newt said. "You should have let me die! It's what I bloody wanted."_

_"I'm sorry." I replied. "I couldn't just leave you there." Newt's features softened, and at the moment, he seemed like the old Newt again._

_"I hate this place, Hayl." Newt whispered. "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. I didn't want to be here anymore. I can't keep watching them die."_

_"We're going to figure things out, okay?" I said. "This is our home now, we might as well make the best of it."_

_"But what if we can't?" Newt breathed, barely audible._

_If we couldn't? If we all lost ourselves to this place one by one?_

_I didn't have the answer to that._


	14. Falling to Pieces

The next day went by without any incidents, which was a relief. Thomas went into the Maze for the first time, and everything went pretty well.

The same could not be said for the day after that.

I woke up early, expecting to see the sun streaming in. But there was nothing.

I looked up at the sky to see it completely gray. Not cloudy or anything, just a literal wall of pure grey.

"Newt." I said, shaking him. "Newt, wake up."

"What's bloody going on?" Newt asked sleepily.

"The sun disappeared." I replied. Newt's eyes opened wide, and he looked up to see the sunless sky. Around us, the other Gladers were also looking up, extremely confused.

"Shuck." Newt muttered. We walked down to the grass, where the other Gladers had converged, wondering what was going on.

Without the sun, we couldn't grow our plants, which was one of our main sources of food. We'd have supplies from the Box, but I didn't think it would be enough.

We'd still have supplies from the Box, right?

It was scheduled to come up today. We never had any reason to think that it wouldn't. But now, with the sun disappearing, what if it didn't come?

It has to come, I told myself. We could figure this out, and everything was going to be alright. We were in this Maze for a reason, after all. We were smart enough to survive this, I knew we were.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Where's the shucking sun?"

"Were doomed!"

Complaints and questions from the Gladers echoed all around. I get that they were confused, but didn't they understand that we didn't know what was going on either?

"Everybody slim it!" Alby shouted from somewhere else. "Just because we have no sun doesn't mean we aren't going to work! Everyone get to your shucking jobs now." The boys all grumbled, but they dispersed to their various work areas.

"This is not good." Newt muttered.

"That's an understatement." I snorted. But the bad stuff was only just beginning.

...

At first, I didn't notice the commotion by the Box. But, I did a double take, and saw that at least half of the Glade was at the Box.

Why the shuck were they there? The alarm hadn't gone off yet, so why...

_The alarm hadn't gone off yet._

The Box wasn't coming up.

Without a second thought, I spirited over to the crowd of boys, pushing my way through. Sure enough, the Box was not there, just the empty elevator shaft. It was late in the afternoon. The Box really wasn't coming.

"What are we going to do?" Someone shouted.

"We're all gonna die!"

"Where the shuck is the Box?"

I looked around for Newt or Alby, but neither of them were there. I realized that they were all asking me, but I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" I yelled, and the Gladers immediately stopped talking and stared and me. "Look, I know this is bad, but that doesn't mean you all get to stop working! Everyone get back to their jobs now, and we will figure this out!"

The Gladers all stared at me for a moment and then went in their separate directions, back to work.

I got them out of the way. Now I had to tell Alby and Newt. I ran towards the Homestead, assuming that they were in there. Sure enough, Alby and Newt were conversing quietly on the first floor.

I took a deep breath and then walked over to them.

"Hey, Hayl." Newt said as I approached. Then he saw my facial expression. "What's going on?"

"The Box." I said. "It didn't come." It took a few moments for that to sink in. Newt's face melted into a confused expression, whereas Alby just looked mad.

"What do you mean, the Box didn't come?" He exclaimed. "How could it not come?"

"I don't know." I shouted back. "But we have no sun, and no supplies! We have to figure this out, or we won't last a week."

"Okay." Newt said calmly, trying to assess the situation. "Okay. We have some food stored, so we'll last for a little while. We need to ration everything, starting now." Even if we did do all of that, we would die soon.

Little did we know, the day's crazy stuff was just getting started.

...

By the time Minho and Thomas came out of the Maze, I was exhausted. The Gladers were confused and scared, which was not a good combination. Boys had been coming up to me all day, bombarding me with their frantic questions.

"Hey." Minho said, jogging over to the three of us along with Thomas. "We found-"

"Just get on with it, we don't have time to waste." Alby said. "Make it quick, 'cause this place is shucked enough already." Both Minho and Thomas looked taken aback, and I realized they didn't know about the Box.

"What do you mean, what happened?" Minho asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"The supplies didn't come today." I explained. "They came every single week for two shucking years, the exact same day. But not today."

"We're shucked for good." Minho whispered, his face paling.

"No sun for the plants, no supplies from the bloody Box," Newt said. "Yeah, we're shucked alright."

"Anyways, we found something weird." Minho said. He then launched into an explanation about a secret hole thing just off the Cliff.

"We think it's where the Grievers live." Minho concluded. My eyes widened. They found the Grievers's home?

"The Griever Hole." Thomas added, and we all glared at him. He was coming up with shuck nicknames while the entire Glade was falling apart?

"That's hard to believe." Newt muttered. "Gotta see it for myself."

"I'm not sure what we should do." Minho mused. "Maybe we could build something to block that corridor so they can't get through."

"No, shuck things can climb walls, remember?" I reminded him. "We couldn't build anything that would keep them out."

Suddenly, shouts erupted from the Homestead, and we all groaned. Couldn't we just have one minute to figure all this shucking stuff out.

"What's happening?" Newt shouted in the general direction of the Homestead.

"The girl's awake!" Chuck shouted back. I looked closer, and saw that the Gladers were shielding themselves from falling items. I looked up to see Teresa in the Watchtower, trying to keep the Gladers away.

"What the shuck?" I muttered as we all ran over to them.

"Leave me alone!" She shouted as the boys shielded themselves from her falling objects.

"Hey, stop!" Some boys shouted.

"Go away!" Teresa yelled. I swatted a couple falling pieces of wood away, and then scrambled under a large pan that someone was holding.

"What do you want from me?" She shouted.

"Hey, we just want to talk!" Thomas yelled, but it didn't seem to do anything. Teresa was very persistent. She continued her assault, with doubled efforts.

"Whoa, take cover!" Minho shouted, and we all backed away.

"Hey, whoah, it's Thomas!" Thomas shouted, and the falling objects immediately stopped. Teresa peeked over, staring at us. "Okay, I'm going to come up!"

Thomas climbed the ladder, going to talk to Teresa. The rest of us stayed on the ground, wary of any objects that were going to fall.

After a few minutes, Thomas climbed down, with Teresa following.

"Sorry about that." She muttered. The Gladers all backed away, not sure what they should do. It was almost funny.

Then I realized that it was getting late, but there was no familiar boom of the Doors closing.

"Minho." I started to say shakily. "What time is it?" He read the time off of his watch, and then it slowly dawned on him, on all of us. The worst thing that could possibly happen.

The Doors didn't close.


	15. The Night of Grievers

To say that everyone panicked would be an understatement.

I had never seen such complete and total chaos in my life. The Gladers were running around, screaming, trying to figure out how we were going to survive the night.

The Doors were the only thing separating us from the Grievers. Now that they were open, those monsters could come into the Glade and kill every single one of us.

"EVERYBODY SHUT YOUR HOLES!"

The Gladers all froze, and we turned to see Alby standing there with a furious expression on his face.

"Everyone needs to calm the shuck down and listen to me!" Alby ordered. "First, put the girl in the Slammer, and-"

"What?" Thomas said. "Alby, you can't blame her for the walls not closing." Alby glared at him fiercely, and Thomas actually backed away in fear.

"Just be lucky you aren't gonna be locked up too, Thomas." Alby said, and he motioned for two Gladers to take Teresa to the Slammer.

"Alright, the rest of you!" Alby yelled. "Builders, put barricades on the Doors, whatever you can do. Frypan, get all the non-perishable food and bring it to the Homestead. Minho and Haylee, get as many weapons as you can carry, bring those to the Homestead, too. Newt and the rest of the Keepers, get everyone in the Homestead for the night, and distribute supplies. Everyone, get what you need, and we'll barricade ourselves in the Homestead."

Once Alby finished, we all went in our separate directions to do our jobs. Minho and I made our way to the basement to get the weapons. Minho unlocked it, and we climbed down.

Immediately, we moved to opposite sides of the room, trying to figure out how to get all this stuff. I grabbed a bunch of knives and stuffed them in an empty box, and continued to do so until the box was full. With my free hand, I grabbed two swords, and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to carry any more.

I climbed back out of the basement with the weapons, and I ran over to the Homestead. I placed the box of knives and the swords inside, and then ran back to the basement to get more.

This went on for about half and hour, until my muscles were completely exhausted. Almost everyone was inside the Homestead now, and I jogged over, ready to go inside.

Newt fell into step beside me, also visibly exhausted.

"The Maps are safe." He whispered as we entered the Homestead. I immediately felt relieved. With everything that had been going on, I had forgotten about Alby's warning. Clearly, Newt hadn't.

Once we made sure everyone was settled and the Homestead was secure, Newt and I went to one of the upstairs rooms, along with Alby, Minho, and Thomas.

It was going to be a long night.

...

Newt, Alby, and I sat on the room's bed, while Minho and Thomas were in chairs. We were discussing what we should do, tonight and in the aftermath.

"I know this seems bloody awful." Newt began. "Supplies cut, walls not closing, gray skies. But we can't give up, and we know it. We just got to work our asses off until we're dead or we get out."

Everyone looked at Alby, expecting him, as the leader, to add to Newt's little pep talk.

"Alby, you gonna pitch in?" Newt asked.

"Huh?" Alby said, glancing up from the floor. "Oh, yeah. Good that. But you've seen what happens at night. Just because this shucking Greenie made it doesn't mean the rest of us can."

"We gotta quit feeling sorry for ourselves." Minho said. "Tomorrow morning, first thing, assign teams to study the Maps while the Runners go out. We can pack our stuff shuck-full so we can stay out there for a couple days.

"What?" Alby exclaimed. "What do you mean, days?"

"I mean days." Minho retorted. "With the Doors open and no sunset, there's no point coming back here anyways. It's time to stay out there and see what happens when the walls move. If they still move."

"No way." Alby said. "We have the Homestead to hide in, plus the Map Room and the Slammer. We can't just ask people to go out there and die! Who'd volunteer for that."

"Me." Minho said.

"And me." I added.

"Me too." Thomas concluded.

"I will, if I have to." Newt said. We all glanced at him in surprise. Newt used to be a Runner, and a good one too. But with his limp...

"With your bum leg?" Alby scoffed, and I had a strange urge to punch him in the face. How dare he mock Newt's injury?

"Well it doesn't feel right to ask the Gladers to do something I'm not bloody comfortable with myself." Newt retorted, looking slightly hurt by Alby's comment.

"Whatever." Alby muttered. "Do whatever you want."

"Do whatever I want?!" Newt said, suddenly angry. "What's wrong with you? You think we have a choice? You're saying we should just sit around and wait for the Grievers to bloody kill us?"

"Well it sounds better than running to them." Alby murmured.

"Alby, come on." I interjected. "You're the shucking leader. Start talking reason." Alby glanced at the floor, thinking about something. He took a deep breath and then looked at each of us.

"You guys, know I'm screwed up." Alby sighed. "Seriously, I'm sorry. I don't think I should be the leader anymore."

"Oh, bloody-"

"No!" Alby yelled. "That's not what I mean, just listen. I'm not saying we should switch or anything. I just think you guys should make the decisions. I- I don't trust myself."

I could see the pain in Alby's eyes. It must have taken so much strength for him to say this. I really admired that, I did. I was surprised, but I knew it was the right thing to do.

"Okay." Newt said. "We'll, um, make it work, I promise." Alby nodded.

"Here, I'll tell you what." Alby said. "Put me in charge of the Maps. I'll have every Gladers studying those things."

"Works for me." Minho muttered. It was a good idea, and it would give Alby a distraction, which he probably needed right now.

"It was really stupid of us to stay here tonight." Alby continued. "We should've been in the Map Room, working, studying those shuck things."

"Probably." I said with a shrug. "But there isn't much we can do about that now."

"Well, I'll go." Alby declared. "Right now."

"Forget it, Alby." Newt said. "I can already hear the bloody Grievers out there. We can just wait until wake-up."

"Hey, you shanks are the ones giving all the shucking pep talks." Alby persisted. "Don't complain when I actually listen. If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do it. I need something to dive into. Seriously, I really need this."

"You can't be serious!" Newt exclaimed. "You can't go out there right now, the Grievers'll bloody kill you."

"I'm going." Alby said defiantly. "See you all in the morning."

And then, without a word, Alby left.

"Alby, wait-" I started to say, standing up. But Alby was already gone. "Shuck."

"He'll be okay." Minho said, although he didn't sound entirely convinced. "He'll make it there, he's going to be fine. Alby is one tough shank." We sat in silence for a couple more moments, contemplating what to do next.

"We might as well get some bloody sleep." Newt muttered. Yeah, sleep didn't sound like a bad idea. This day had been completely hectic, and I hand't realized how tired I was until now.

...

Once we had gotten the rest of the Gladers settled, we did go to sleep, or at least tried. Newt and I shared the small bed, while Minho and Thomas were stuck on the floor.

I fell in and out of sleep, constantly wary of the Grievers that were outside. The sounds of the monsters penetrated the Glade throughout the entire night, terrifying even the bravest Gladers.

The closest one came around two in the morning.

The Griever sounded close, too close for my liking. I stood up abruptly, as did many others. Newt gestured for everyone to shush, and he crept over to the window. I held my long knife tightly, ready to fight off any Grievers that came close.

I leaned over Newt's shoulder, trying to see just what we were up against. I didn't see any Grievers, but I could definitely hear them. Judging by the sounds, I would say four or five Grievers were outside.

Five Grievers!

Finally, one became visible, and it was a terrifying sight to see a Griever inside the Glade. It destroyed everything in its path, until it was right next to the Homestead.

I frantically gestured for everyone to back away from the window and the wall that it was on. The Gladers in the room listened, backing towards the opposite wall.

I held my arm out protectively in front of the other Gladers, my knife brandished, expecting the Griever to burst through the window.

Instead, Gally burst through the doorway.


	16. The Aftermath

Gally looked awful. His clothes were ragged and dirty, his eyes were full of rage.

We backed away, trying to stay in the middle of the room, not sure where to go between Gally and the Grievers.

"They'll kill you all!" Gally screamed. "The Grievers- one every night until you're all gone!" I held out my knife shakily, expecting Gally to attack. He advanced forward, stopping once he was only a few inches from Thomas.

"It's all you fault!" He shouted, pointing directly at Thomas. Suddenly, he swung his fist at Thomas, hitting him on the left side of his face.

Quickly, Newt shoved Gally back, hoping to buy some time. Gally was crazy, but he was still a Glader.

"It can't be solved." Gally growled. "The Maze... The Grievers... They'll kill you all! One a night! Every night!"

"Gally, shut your hole!" Newt whisper-yelled. "There's a bloody Griever outside the window. Just be quiet, maybe it'll go away." Gally glared at Newt fiercely, and I stepped forward protectively, ready to attack.

"You don't get it, Newt." Gally spat. "You've always been too stupid. There's no way out! They're gonna kill all of you one by one, and you can't stop it." Gally lunged towards the window, tearing at the wood on the wall.

Newt and I sprinted forward, trying to stop Gally from destroying the wall completely. Just as we reached him, Gally swung around, and both of his fists hit Newt's head. Newt went flying back, sprawled across the floor.

The sight of Newt hurt sparked a new rage inside me, and I shoved Gally away from the window. He swung his arms wildly, hitting me in the stomach, and I doubled over in pain.

"Gally, what are you doing?" Thomas yelled.

"You shut your shuck face Thomas!" Gally hissed. "I know who you are! I can only do what's right."

Gally swung a board at the window, and it shattered. There was nothing stopping the Grievers from coming in now.

I inched towards Newt's limp body, determined to get him out of harm's way. The Griever that had been outside was squirming through the window, its arms flying out in every direction.

Everyone else had gone to the hallway, all except me, Thomas, Gally, and, of course, Newt.

The Griever's long arm reached towards the unconscious Newt, much to my horror. It was about to grab him, take him away, just like the nightmares-

"NO!" I screamed, throwing my knife and praying that it would hit the target. Sure enough, the Griever's arm was severed from its body, and the the Griever recoiled back as I reached Newt, pulling him towards me. I grabbed the knife from the floor and held it out in front of me.

"No one ever understood!" Gally screamed. In all the chaos, I had almost forgotten that he was there. "No one understood what I saw! No one understood what the Changing did to me! Don't go back to the real world! You don't want to remember!"

And then, Gally jumped, right into the arms of the Griever. The monster gladly took the offering, pulling Gally along with itself. The Griever rolled across the Glade and into the Maze, the rest of the Grievers following.

Then, full speed, Minho ran after them, disappearing into the Maze, following the Grievers in.

I would have stopped him, but I had Newt to worry about. He seemed to be slowly gaining consciousness, and I gently set him down on the floor.

"Hayl?" He groaned softly.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, leaning over him.

"I- I think so." Newt said, struggling to sit up. "What bloody happened?"

"Gally knocked you out." I explained. "Right before he gave himself up to the Grievers. They took him into the Maze, and Minho went after them."

"What?!" Newt exclaimed, jumping into a standing position. "Wait a second-" He glanced around the room, muttered something, and ran out into the Glade. I followed him quickly.

The first thing I noticed was that the Map Room was on fire.

"Shuck." I muttered, but then I remembered that Newt and Minho hid the Maps.

The rest of the Glade wasn't in a great condition either. Almost all of the buildings were demolished, the plants were uprooted, and the grass was mangled and dirty. It hurt to see this place, my home, so utterly destroyed.

I glanced over at Newt to see him running over to the Doors, where a certain dumb Greenie was standing.

"Thomas!" Newt shouted, and the boy turned.

"Minho followed them out there!" He replied.

"I know." Newt said. "Minho must've finally fried his last few brain cells. Not to mention Gally. I always knew he was crazy."

"I'm going after him."

"Time to be the bloody hero again?"

"You think I'm doing things to impress you shanks?" Thomas asked. "All I care about is getting out of here."

"That's great." I said sarcastically. "But we've got way worse problems to deal with right now."

"What?"

"Somebody-" Newt started to say, but then Minho ran out of the Maze, red-faced and out of breath. He stopped in front of us, putting his hands on his knees and breathing heavily.

"What were you doing, you idiot!" I exclaimed, lightly smacking him on the arm.

"Needed... to make sure." Minho gasped, still gulping down air.

"Make sure of what?" Newt asked. "It wouldn't do any good for you to be taken with Gally."

"Slim it!" Minho snapped. "I just wanted to see if they were going to the Griever Hole."

"And?"

"Bingo." Minho replied, grinning.

"I can't believe it." Newt whispered. "What a night." He was right. Doors didn't close, Grievers attacked, and then the whole thing with Gally. And Newt wasn't even conscious for part of it!

"What were you about to tell me?" Thomas asked. "You said there was a problem."

"Yeah." I said, gesturing towards the Map Room. "You can still see the shucking smoke." Thomas stared, agape, at the burned Map Room. I forgot that he didn't know that the Maps were hidden. He thought that they were truly gone.

"Somebody burned the Maps." Newt said. "Every single one."

...

The Gladers all congregated by the Map Room, but we managed to keep them out. I realized, with a sinking feeling, that Alby had been inside. I had forgotten about him during all the night's events.

Alby himself was found lying on the ground, bleeding from a large cut on his forehead.

We were starting to shift through the rubble when Thomas finally showed up again, probably ready to ask more of his never ending questions.

"Who do you think did it?" Thomas asked. Yep, here we go with the questions.

"Maybe Gally before he went psycho?" Minho guessed. "Maybe the Grievers. I don't know, and I don't really care. It doesn't matter."

"Now who's the one giving up." Thomas muttered.

"That's not what I meant, you shank." Minho snapped. "Just shut your hole for now. You'll find out soon enough."

"I need to tell you guys something." Thomas persisted. "And we need to let Teresa out. She's probably starving, and we need her help." Seriously? He was still thinking about Teresa.

"Thomas, we don't have time to worry about her." I said.

"Please just give us a few minutes." Thomas pleaded. "We have an idea. It could work if the Runners remember their Maps." Minho turned, clearly intrigued.

"An idea? What?"

"Come to the Slammer with me." Thomas said. "You, Newt, and Haylee." Minho glanced at me, and I just shrugged. It was worth a shot. If it didn't work, we would just keep going.

"Newt!" Minho shouted.

"Yeah?" Newt replied, still attending to Alby.

"Let the Med-Jacks take him. We need to talk." Minho explained. Newt raised his eyebrows, but he told the nearest Gladers to get the Med-Jacks, and he jogged over to us.

"Talk about what?" He asked. I gestured to Thomas.

"Just come with me." Thomas said. He turned and ran to the Slammer. Newt shot us a questioning look, but we followed him, hoping that this was worth our time.

"Let her out." Thomas said once we arrived. "Then we'll talk. Trust me, you want to hear it."

"Tommy, this is-"

"Please, just open it." Thomas sighed. "Let her out."

"How do we know we can trust her?" I asked. "As soon as she woke up, the whole place fell apart. She even admitted that she'd triggered something."

"She's got a point." Newt said in response to my statement.

"We can trust her, I know we can." Thomas insisted. "Every time I've talked to her, we talk about getting out of here. She was sent here just like us. We can't blame her for any of this."

"Then what did she bloody mean by saying she triggered something?" Newt asked. Thomas just shrugged, which wasn't really helping his case.

"Maybe her mind was all whacked when she woke up." Thomas said. "We all went through that in the Box. Just let her out. She is one of us." We stood there skeptically. I could tell that Thomas trusted her, but that trust didn't seem to be based off of anything, just feelings.

"Come on!" Thomas exclaimed. "What do you think she's gonna do, stab everyone to death?"

"Fine." Minho sighed. "Just let the stupid girl out."

"I'm not stupid!" Came a voice from the Slammer. Teresa. "And I can hear every word you guys are saying!"

"Real sweet girl you picked up, Tommy." Newt muttered.

"Just hurry, we probably have a lot to do before the Grievers come back." Thomas said. "If they don't come during the day." A new wave of fear washed over me. What if the Grievers came now, while we were vulnerable?

I pushed those thoughts down, knowing that there wasn't time for doubt.

Newt pulled out his keys and reluctantly opened the door. Teresa stepped out, taking the time to glare at Minho and then stand uncomfortably close to Thomas.

"Alright, talk." Minho said. "What's so shucking important?" We all looked at Teresa expectantly.

"What?" She said. "You talk, they obviously think I'm a serial killer or something." Thomas glanced at her, confused, but then he continued with his plan.

"When Teresa first came out of her coma, she had memories flash through her mind." Thomas explained. "She told me that the Maze is a code. That instead of solving it, it's trying to send us a message so we can get out."

"A code?" I asked. "How is it a shucking code?"

"I don't know, you're more familiar with it than I am." Thomas said. "But I have a theory, and that's why I was hoping you guys remembered the Maps." Minho and I glanced at Newt, wondering if we could divulge the true whereabouts of the Maps to Thomas and Teresa. Newt nodded, and we continued.

"What?" Thomas asked. "You guys have a secret or something?"

"We hid the Maps, Thomas." Minho sighed. "In the weapon room, and put fake ones in their place. All 'cause of Alby's warning and this Ending that your girlfriend here apparently triggered." Thomas raised his eyebrows in shock, looking to Newt for confirmation.

"Take me to them." Thomas said.

"Let's go."


	17. The Maze Code

It only took us a few minutes to pull the Maps out, and then we turned to Thomas to see what his so-called plan was.

"The Runners always compare these every day, looking for some kind of pattern, even though you didn't know what you were looking for, right?" Thomas asked. We nodded in confirmation, and he continued. "What if the movements don't have anything to do with a map or anything? What if the patterns spell words? Something that'll help us escape."

"Do you have any idea how long we've been studying these things?" Minho said angrily. "We would have noticed if it spelled out shucking words."

"Well maybe it's too hard to see, just comparing one day to the next." Thomas countered. "What if you were only supposed to look at it one day at a time?" Thomas really wasn't making any sense, although it seemed to be the norm for him.

"Tommy, I'm not exactly the sharpest guy in the Glade, but you're talking straight nonsense." Newt remarked.

"Okay." Thomas said, trying to think. "You've always had one Runner assigned to each section, right?"

"Right." Minho and I said at the same time. I was starting to get annoyed: Now Thomas was asking questions that he already knew the answers too.

"And the Runner makes a Map everyday and compares it to the Maps from the past days for that section." Thomas said. "What if you were supposed to compare each section to each other every day? Each day could have been a different code. Did you ever compare the sections to other sections?"

"Yeah." I answered. "We tried to see if they made something when we put 'em together. Of course, we did that, Thomas! I told you, we've tried everything." Thomas didn't respond, instead he stared at the Maps, trying to figure out what to do.

"Wax paper."

"What?" Minho asked. "Why-"

"Trust me." Thomas interrupted. "We need was paper and scissors. And every marker and pencil that you can find."

...

It didn't take us too long to get the supplies. Once we did, we all stood around the table in the weapons room, ready to listen to Thomas's crazy plan.

"This better be good." Minho muttered, clearly skeptical of whatever was happening.

"Go on, Greenie." Newt said, gesturing to the table.

"Okay." Thomas said, handing knives to Minho and me. "Start cutting wax paper rectangles, around the size of the Maps. Newt and Teresa, help me grab the first few Maps from each Box."

"What is this, craft time?" Minho asked. "Just tell us what we're doing this clunk for."

"I'm done explaining." Thomas retorted. "It's easier to show you. If I'm wrong, we can go back to running around the Maze like mice. But I don't think I'm wrong."

I sighed, but I started cutting the wax paper into the squares that Thomas requested, piling them up in front of me. Minho's pile was considerably messier, but I didn't comment on it, even though I very much wanted to.

Meanwhile, the other three pulled out the Maps that were needed, placing them on the other end of the table.

"Okay, everyone trace the last ten days onto a piece of the wax paper." Thomas said, holding up a marker and one of the wax paper sheets. "Write the information on top so we can keep track of everything. When we're done, I think we'll see something." Minho started to question this, but Newt cut him off.

"Just bloody keep cutting." Newt said. "I think I know where he's going with this." I was also starting to get it, or, I think I did. If we traced the maps onto the paper, it could show us the code. If there was one.

It took a little while just to finish the first round. Once the eight map was completed, Thomas placed them in a stack on the table. We all stopped and looked, hoping that there would be something there.

Thomas had been right.

Directly in the center of the page was a large, large letter 'F.'

"It worked." I whispered in disbelief. After all this time, I started to feel a sliver of hope.

"Do more, quick!" Teresa said, and we got back to work. More letters started to appear, and it began to spell out words.

FLOAT. CATCH.

"Definitely not a coincidence." Minho muttered.

"We have to go through all of them." Teresa said. "Every single box in there."

"Yeah, let's get started." Thomas said.

"We can't help." Minho said. We all stared up at him. Was he really refusing to do this? "At least, not me and Thomas. We need to run the Maze."

"What?" Thomas asked. "But this is so much more important."

"Maybe, but we can't miss a day out there, especially not now." Minho answered, and I realized that he was right. Thomas started to protest, saying that he needed to stay.

"Thomas, Minho's right." I said, cutting off Thomas's complaints.

"We can take care of this." Newt added. "I'll get some Gladers we can trust to work on this."

"Me too." Teresa said. "I can stay here and help. Besides, if you're going to decipher a hidden code from a complex set of different mazes, I'm pretty sure you need some girls's brains running the show." I grinned at her when she said the last part. She was right.

"If you say so." Thomas muttered. With that, he and Minho went up the stairs and into the Maze.

"I'll go get some of the others." Newt said, following them up the stairs. That just left Teresa and me. We started to trace the next set of Maps, talking as we worked.

"So what was it like being the only girl?" She asked.

"It's fine." I replied. "These boys are my family. Still, you have no idea how awkward it was to explain what happens when I'm on my period to 50 boys." Teresa laughed.

"That sounds awful." She said.

"Yeah, but I guess the good stuff outweighs the bad." I said. "But it is nice to have another girl here." I didn't quite trust Teresa yet, but she seemed like someone who would be helpful.

...

FLOAT

CATCH

BLEED

DEATH

STIFF

PUSH

The Maze Code. After all this time, after all this sacrifice, we finally had the key. And it was a bunch of nonsense words.

Still, this was a major accomplishment. But the night was coming fast, and with it, the Grievers.

...

We were packed in to the Homestead even tighter than before, if that was possible. I ended up downstairs with Newt, Thomas, Minho, and a few others.

The Grievers came quicker than the previous night, and it sounded like there were more of them, too. There was a loud scraping sound, and I was pretty sure that a Griever was climbing up the Homestead.

It was tense, with everyone not sure when the Grievers would make their move.

BAM! Somewhere upstairs, a Griever had broken in. Screams could be heard, followed by loud footsteps as the Gladers who were upstairs ran down as fast as they could.

"It got Dave!" Someone screamed. The Griever in question was already out of the Homestead, heading back towards the Maze. As much as I wanted to help, there was nothing we could do for Dave.

Evidently, Thomas did not agree. He ran right out of the Homestead, following the Griever at a fast pace.

"How stupid is he!" I exclaimed as I ran after him along with some fo the other Gladers. Honestly, sometimes it felt like Thomas really did have a death wish.

Thomas jumped towards the Griever, latching on to one of its long arms. The other Grievers converged on Thomas, stung him, and then rolled back into the Maze.

Thomas collapsed to the ground, shaking hard.

"Quick! Get him to the Med-Jacks!" Newt shouted. He grabbed Thomas by the shoulders, and I lifted his legs off the ground. Together, we half-carried, half-dragged him towards the Homestead, setting him down on a ruined couch.

"You idiot!" I shouted once we were in there. "What the shuck were you thinking?"

"How could you be so bloody stupid!" Newt added, his face red with anger.

"You... don't... understand." Thomas gasped. "On... purpose." With that, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he sank further into the couch, unconscious. Then I realized just what his words meant.

Thomas got himself stung. _On purpose._


	18. The Truth

Three nights passed since Thomas was stung.

Three more Gladers, taken by the Grievers.

And, finally, the idiot Greenie was awake, and he had called a Gathering. Apparently, he knew how to get out. I was skeptical, but it was worth a shot.

"Alright, Greenie." Alby sighed. "Forget all the formal klunk. Start talking now." Thomas fidgeted in his seat, still looking sick from the Changing. I couldn't blame him.

"It's kind of a long story." Thomas began. "We don't have time to go through the whole thing, but I'll tell you the main idea. When I was stung, I saw all these images, like a slide show. A lot came back to me, but only part of it is clear enough. The other stuff is fading. But I remember enough to know that the Creators are testing us. The Maze was never intended to be solved. It's all been a test, a trial. They want the survivors to do something important."

"What?" Newt asked, voicing all of our thoughts. Everything Thomas was saying sounded like complete and utter nonsense.

"Let me start over." Thomas said. "We were all taken when we were really young. I don't know why, but I know the Creators felt justified in doing it. They somehow figured out that we have above-average intelligence, and that's why we were chosen." He looked around, seeing if we all understood. We nodded, and he continued with the story.

"I don't remember my family. But after we were taken, we spent time learning in special schools, living somewhere until they were able to build the Maze. All of our names are just dumb nicknames they made up. Alby for Albert Einstein, Newt for Isaac Newton, Haylee for Harper Lee... and me, Thomas. As in Edison."

"So you're saying our names- the one thing they let us keep- aren't even our real names?" I asked in disbelief. The one thing I remembered, and it wasn't even real?

"I don't think we'll ever know what our real names are."

"So we're shucking orphans raised by scientists?" Frypan said.

"Yes." Thomas sighed. "Were supposedly super smart, and they're analyzing every move we make. Seeing who would give up, and who would. Who'd survive it all. That's why we have so many beetle blades running around, spying on us. And some of us have even had our brains... altered, in a way."

"I don't believe this." Winston muttered. It did seem pretty far-fetched, but, then again, how would Thomas be able to make up something this complex and messed-up?

"Well what do you think is the explanation?" Thomas said angrily.

"Just keep talking." Alby said. "But I don't get why none of us remember any of this stuff. I've been through the Changing, and I didn't see anything like this."

"I'll tell you why in a minute." Thomas snapped. 

"Keep going then." Newt said, and Thomas continued.

"They wiped our memories, all of them." Thomas explained. "They put is in the Box and sent us here. They started with a big group, and then once a month, every month."

"And what was the shucking point of all this?" I asked. Who would be cruel enough to send kids to die in a Maze? How was there anything that justified that?

"I'm getting there." Thomas said. "They wanted to test us, and see ho we would react. They called 'em Variables. They wanted to see if we could work together, make this a community. They provided everything for us, and the problem was a maze. They made us think that there had to be a solution, encouraging us to work harder. What I'm trying to say is, there isn't a solution."

What?

How could there not be a solution? For two years, we've been trying to find our way out, and now he was saying it meant nothing. All our hard work, all the suffering and deaths, for no solution.

"See?!" Thomas exclaimed, gesturing to us. "Most people would have given up by now. But we're different. We couldn't accept an unsolvable problem, and we've kept fighting! Look, whatever the reason is, it makes me sick. But in the end, they need the survivors for something big, something really important."

"Thomas, people have died!" I shouted, standing up abruptly. "Was killing innocent kids part of their shucking plan?"

"Yes, Haylee, killing people." Thomas said, and I slowly sat back down. "The only reason the Grievers are going one by one so we don't all die before it ends. Only the best of us will escape."

"Well, you better start talking about this magical escape, then!" Frypan exclaimed.

"He will." Newt muttered. "Just listen.

"Something tells me that I'm not going to like what I'm about to hear." Minho commented.

"Probably not." Thomas confirmed. "The Creators want the best people for whatever they're planning. But we need to earn it. The code."

"What about it?" Frypan asked.

"It was hidden in the Maze's movements for a reason." Thomas explained. "I should know. I was there when the Creators did it." We stared at him, not really sure what he meant. Thomas was one of them? He helped them do this?

"What are you bloody talking about?" Newt asked, breaking the long silence.

"First, there's something I have to say." Thomas sighed. "About me and Teresa. There's a reason Gally accused me of all that stuff, and why everyone who went through the Changing recognizes me. Teresa and I are different. We were part of the Maze Trials from the beginning. But against our will, I swear."

"Thomas, what do you mean?" Minho questioned.

"We were used by the Creators. If you had your memories, you'd probably want to kill us. But I'm telling you myself to show you that you can trust us now. So you can believe me when I tell you the only way we can get out of here." We waited, knowing that Thomas had more to say. Part of me didn't even want to hear it.

"Teresa and I helped design the Maze. We helped create this whole thing."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Newt asked. "You're bloody sixteen years old. How could you have created the Maze?"

"We were... smart." Thomas said. "And I think it has something to do with the Variables. And, Teresa and I have this... gift that made us valuable when designing the place."

"Well what is it?" I asked.

"We're telepathic!" Thomas exclaimed. "We can talk with our freaking minds." I stared at him in shock. Telepathic? Really?

"You have to listen to me." Thomas said. "They forced us to help them. Maybe it was to see if we could gain your trust despite being with them. Maybe we were supposed to be the ones who revealed how to escape. But with the Maps figured out, we need to use the code right now."

"I'm really, really sorry about everything." Thomas continued. "But we're all in the same boat now. Teresa and I were sent here just like all of you, and the Creators have seen enough. It's time for the final test. And there's a real chance we can do this."

"The Creators did this to us." Newt said. "Not Tommy or Teresa. The Creators. And now, they'll be sorry."

"Let's just get on with the escape already." Minho added. Thomas looked around nervously, and we gestured for him to continue.

"There's a computer station in a place we've never look before." Thomas explained. "The code will open the door that gets us out of the Maze. It'll also shut down the Grievers, if we can survive long enough to get there."

"A place we've never looked before?" Alby asked. "We've been looking for two shucking years! There's nowhere else to look."

"Trust me, you've never been here."

"Well where is it?" I asked, although I had a feeling I already knew the answer, and I wasn't going to like it. But it was our only chance at escape, and we had to take it.

"The Griever Hole."

...

After arguing, planning, and convincing, the plan was ready.

We were going to escape. Tonight.


	19. Escaping the Maze

Most of the Gladers agreed to go, which surprised me a little. There were those who were going to stay, but they were definitely outnumbered.

For a few hours, we planned, prepared, and packed.

We ate dinner, even though no one had much of an appetite. Still, I forced myself to eat something, knowing that I'd need my strength.

Afterwards, Newt and I took inventory of the supplies, and then, it was nearly time to leave.

"Haylee." Newt said suddenly. "If we don't make it out of this-"

"Don't." I interrupted. "Don't say that. We're going to survive, okay? We are not going to die today." Newt pulled me into his embrace, and I returned the gesture, hoping that this wasn't the last time.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I love you too." I replied, and we broke apart. It was time to rally the Gladers. Once everyone was gathered around, Newt stepped up in front of everyone along with Alby.

"There's forty-one of us." Newt began. "Make sure you have your weapons and supplies. Other than that, there isn't much to say. You all know the plan. We're going to fight our way to the Griever Hole, and Thomas is gonna punch in his code, and then we'll get payback on the Creators. Simple as that."

"Shouldn't someone give a pep talk or something?" Minho asked.

"Go ahead." Newt said.

"Be careful. Don't die."

"Great, we're all bloody inspired." Newt said.

"You know the plan!" He continued. "After two years, we're finally taking a stand. Tonight, we're taking the fight to the Creators, no matter what. Tonight, the Grievers better be scared. Hear that, Creators? We're coming!"

We cheered, and then ran into the Maze, ready to face whatever obstacles came our way. Minho led the way, as he knew his way around the Maze better than anyone.

Finally, after running through the endless corridors, we reached the Cliff. We stopped at a wall, and Minho looked around the corner.

"Oh no." He muttered. The Griever sounds became loud, and I realized that the Grievers were right there. "There's at least a dozen of them. They're just waiting for us!"

"Well, we knew that we'd have to fight." Newt sighed, but I could hear a note of fear in his voice. Then again, who wasn't scared?

A loud noise startled everyone, and we slowly turned around to see more Grievers behind us. And next to us. All around us. We were surrounded.

I whipped out my machete and spear, ready to fight. The Gladers all huddled together, staring at the mass of Grievers that stood before us.

"We shouldn't have come." Alby said. "But if only one dies... maybe I should..." And then, of all the stupid things, Alby walked right towards the Grievers.

"Alby?" Newt said. "Get back here!" But Alby kept going, almost as if he was in a trance.

"Alby, no!" I shouted, but nothing we could say penetrated his mind, and he kept going. The Grievers sprang to life, attacking Alby with their full force.

Newt moved forward, but I grabbed his arm, pulling him back. I couldn't lose Newt too. Thomas helped me. Grabbing Newt's other arm and stopping him from running to Alby.

"Let me go!" Newt shouted.

"Newt, there's nothing you can do!" I yelled back as the Grievers continued utterly destroying Alby. The sight made me want to throw up.

Finally, Newt collapsed to the ground in defeat, he couldn't even bear to look. Newt let out a loud sob, shaking on the ground.

"We can't waste what he did." Minho said, putting his hand on Newt's shoulder. "We'll fight 'em, clear a path to the Cliff. Thomas, get in the Hole and put in the code. We'll hold them off.

"How can you be so heartless?" Newt muttered.

"There's nothing we can do." I whispered. "We can't let his sacrifice be in vain. Alby would want you to survive, Newt." He nodded slowly, but still didn't respond.

"Listen up!" Minho shouted to the other Gladers. "Everyone needs to protect Thomas and Teresa! Get them to the Cliff, so they can-" Minho was stopped short by the sound of the Grievers, coming straight towards us.

Alby had sacrificed himself for nothing.

The Grievers rolled towards us, a terrifying sight. I gripped my weapons tightly as they came closer, their awful stench penetrating the air.

"Get Thomas and Teresa to the Griever Hole!" I shouted. "Push 'em over the sides!" I was referring to the long drops on either side of the pathway towards the Cliff.

"Ready!" Minho yelled. "Now!"

We charged at the Grievers, launching into the battle that could cost us our lives. I fought with a passion that I had never felt before, stabbing Grievers in their weak spots and shoving them over the sides. Both people and Grievers fell to the ground all around me.

I heard a familiar shout and turned to see Newt attempting to push a Griever over the edge, but the Griever had managed to grab Newt's leg.

"Newt!" I screamed as he fell, holding onto the wall for dear life. The Griever managed to get back onto the walkway, standing over Newt.

Using all my strength, I used my spear to push the Griever towards the edge.

"Hold on!" I shouted to Newt as the Griever went completely over his head, falling into the abyss below.

I helped Newt get back onto the walkway, and, for a moment, I thought we were safe until Heard the screech of multiple Grievers coming straight towards us. I was armed with only a spear, as I had stuck my machete in a Griever and never gotten it out. Newt was weaponless. We could't face down the three Grievers that were coming our way.

"Together." He whispered.

"Always." I replied.

The Grievers were upon us when, suddenly, they shut down completely.

We won.

All around us were dead Glades. At least half of the boys that had come with us were now dead.

"We have to jump in!" Minho yelled, standing on the edge of the Cliff. Without a word, he jumped into the Griever Hole, followed by some more of the survivors.

Newt paled as we reached the Cliff, and I realized that he was still afraid of heights after.... After the incident.

"Come on." I said, holding out my hand. "We'll jump together." He put his hand in mine and took a deep breath.

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

We fell through the air for a few seconds and then landed on the cold ground of the Griever Hole with a loud thump. The rest of the Gladers followed, and I counted twenty-one people in the room. Only twenty-one people had survived.

"The rest?" Thomas asked quietly, almost as if he was afraid of the answer.

"Half of us, dead." Newt replied shakily.

"Half of us may have died, but we lived." Minho said. "We escaped the Maze. We did it." The realization hadn't dawned on me yet. We were free.

"Let's get out of here." I said, not wanting to spend another second in the infernal place. "Right now."

"Where do we go?" Minho asked. Just as he said that, a door opened, revealing a long tunnel. We hesitantly walked through, wary of any threats that could come our way.

The entire walk was silent until we reached a door marked with a green sign that said 'EXIT.'

"Seriously?" Frypan said, staring at the sign. He was right. Two years of this, everything we had done, all led up to this?

Thomas stepped forward and pushed the door open cautiously. The sight that greeted us was not a comforting one.

People were lying dead on the ground, and there was blood everywhere. Computers were smashed to pieces, and there were shards of glass littering the ground.

"What happened here?" Minho asked as we looked around the destroyed room. No one had an answer.

I looked at a computer, and was shocked by what I saw. Right there, on the screen, was live footage of the Glade.

"So they were watching us." I whispered. Whoever these people were had seen everything. "The entire time."

Suddenly, one of the large screens sprang to life, and a woman appeared. She was sitting in the same room that we were in, but it hadn't been destroyed yet.

"Hello." She said. " My name is Doctor Ava Paige. I'm the Director of Operations of the World in Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department. If you're watching this, that means you have successfully completed the Maze Trials. I wish I could be there in person to congratulate you, but circumstances seem to have prevented it. I'm sure by now, you must all be very confused, angry, frightened. I can only assure you, that everything that's happened to you, everything we've done to you...it was all done for a reason."

Paige launched into an explanation about how Sun Flares destroyed the world, and how a disease called the Flare was spread. Supposedly, we were immune to this disease, and everything that was done to us was done to find a cure.

"Unfortunately, your trials have only just begun." Paige said. Behind her, chaos ensued. People had broken into the building, and there was gunfire everywhere. People in white lab coats fell, one by one, dead. "As you will no doubt soon discover, not everyone agrees with our methods. Progress is slow, people are scared. It may be too late for us, for me, but not for you. The outside world awaits."

Paige then picked up a gun, holding it to her head.

"Remember." She said. "WICKED is good."

I looked away just as the gun fired. I turned around to see Paige's body on the ground, still and unmoving.

Suddenly, a door opened, leading to who-knows-where. But we were free. We escaped the Maze. WICKED was gone. And now, we could-

"No."

We turned to see Gally, standing in the room, a gun in his hand.

"Gally?" Thomas whispered. Gally's was shaking, his eyes bloodshot. He should be dead. The Grievers took him on the first night. Yet here he was, alive.

"Gally, what's going on?" Newt asked.

"They... can... control me." Gally gasped. "I... have...to." He lifted the gun, pointing it straight at Thomas. I gripped my spear, prepared to throw it at the crazy Gally.

"I belong to the Maze." He whispered. "We all do." I threw my spear just as he fired the gun. Two spears hit Gally in the stomach, mine and Minho's.

Gally collapsed, to the ground, dead.

I killed him. He was my friend, and I killed him.

"Thomas?" A soft voice said. Chuck. I turned to see a red stain growing on the boy's shirt. Blood. No. No, no, no, not him.

Chuck fell to the ground, his wound growing. Thomas caught him and set him down gently.

"No, Chuck, come on!" Thomas shouted. "Look at me, look at me, come on."

"Thomas, it's okay." Chuck whispered. "Thank you." His eyes closed, and his body went limp.

Chuck. The sweet, innocent boy who always knew how to make everyone smile. The one who was always so optimistic about everything. He was dead.

"NO!" Thomas screamed. "NO, CHUCK! Wake up! Come on, Chuck! We made it! NO!"

I covered my mouth with my hand as tears poured freshly from my eyes. Why did so many people have to die? The words of the song that I sang to Newt a few nights ago came back to me: Did you lose what won't return? Well, we lost friends, we lost our home, and none of it was coming back.

Light streamed into the room as another door opened. Men, soldiers, poured into the room, ushering outside. It was a desert, all around us.

"Come on, let's move!" One of the men shouted, leading us to a helicopter.

Once we were all on the helicopter, it took off, flying into the air.

"Are you guys alright?" One of the men asked. We didn't say anything, as we were clearly not alright. "Don't worry, you're safe now."

I looked out the window to see the Maze, sitting there right in the middle of the desert. We were finally out of there, and yet, I missed the safety and certainty of the Glade.

Newt pulled me in close as if he would never let me go again.

We were free. We were safe.

For now, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I just want to thank everyone for actually reading this story. It means a lot to me that you stuck with it the whole way. 
> 
> The song used in this book was "Flares" by The Script. I suggest that you listen to it, because it is a really good song, and it reminds me of Newt. 
> 
> The sequel is called Wicked Fight, and you can find it on my profile. 
> 
> Remember, WICKED is not good.


End file.
